Sent Away!
by SpRiTZ-HaCKer
Summary: The Majestics in Broading school with their best friends. All rich but what happens when a poor girl comes in? Read&Review!
1. Nice to meet you!

Aries: Heh, this is a story me and my best friend did a long time ago hope you like it!  
  
Me and her don't own Beyblade!  
  
Sent Away By Juri Katou and Kamiko MacGregor  
  
The short teen girl from America stepped out of the black car which brought her to the living quarters of The West European Boarding Highschool. She admired the large stay, which looked like a mansion. Others were on their way to the building as well, most returning from summer vacation.  
"Grab your things, child. You don't have all day!" Said the kind escourt who had picked up the girl from her grandmother's house. "You know, Ruki, when things are tough, just remember somebody is watching over you alright?" She said as she handed an old carpet bag to the girl.  
"Thank you, Mrs. Stacey." Ruki smiled.  
"Now go on. Don't be afraid. Just show the people at the front desk your boarding information and they should give you a key. Find the room and settle down. I'll call this evening to check up on you, alright?"  
Ruki nodded, "Thanks. I'll see you later."  
"Good luck." Mrs. Stacey said as Ruki began to leave toward the school.  
Ruki walked up to the building and through the front doors. Inside the desk area it looked more like a mansion than the outside. There was a large chandelier which sparkled from the lights inside the fragile glass. She stared a moment in great awe.  
"What's the matter? Never seen a chandelier before?"  
"What?" Ruki looked at the inquierer. She appeared to be hispanic with dark brown hair and light brown eyes; she stood somewhat taller than Ruki.  
"You must be new here." The girl brushed her nose with her thumb.  
"Uh.. yeah."  
The girl shook her head, "You have so much to learn. Call me Kamiko. I was sent here two years before this year from Canada."  
"Wow... two years? Why?"  
"My only defense is that the devil made me do it, but it didn't help too much. How about I help you out and show you the ropes around here." Kamiko offered.  
"No thanks, I can get around on my own." Ruki declined as politely as she could manage.  
Kamiko laughed, "That's pretty funny. I'll introduce you to some of my friends. I'm sure they won't mind hanging around another girl." She winked.  
Ruki raised an eyebrow.  
"Anyway, lets go get you checked in and get your things up to your room. Let me see this." Kamiko grabbed the paper from Ruki's hand. "Room 625. Great, we'll be roomies for the next 4 years."  
Ruki gave a weak smile, "Yeah... great ..."  
"Lets go." Kamiko led the way to the desk and pushed through the line to the front. "Here." She handed the paper to the man at the desk, "If you could, we'd like some chocolate and candy bars."  
"The cafeteria won't be open until supper time." The man said, handing Kamiko a cardkey.  
"Tell me you're kidding!"  
"Sorry. You can call room service though and ask for a snack."  
Kamiko growled, "Thanks anyway, Gustav."  
"Any time, Kamiko. Next please."  
Kamiko pulled Ruki from the line, "This is just great."  
"What?"  
"No candy bars 'til dinner! Grr. Maybe Enrique still has the ones he left melting in his dresser from last year."  
Ruki made a sickened expression which Kamiko hadn't noticed.  
"Ah, come on. We gotta get your stuff put away so we can find the others." Kamiko led Ruki toward an elevator.  
"The others?" Ruki ran to catch up.  
Kamiko pressed the number six on the floors, Ruki making it into the elevator just before it closed. "You need to stay on your toes Ruki. This place is fast paced. Wouldn't wanna get left behind, would ya?" Kamiko smirked.  
"Listen, I just wanna get to my room and rest. I flew in just today and I'm exhausted..." Ruki sighed.  
"Where'd you come from?" Kamiko asked.  
"America?"  
"Where in America?"  
"....Kentucky..?"  
"Where's that?"  
"..."  
"North or south?"  
"North..."  
"North America, eh? Canada or the United States?"  
"The United States." Ruki chuckled.  
"I see. Well, I stay in Britain during summer vacation with my second cousin. He's the heir to the throne, you know." Kamiko explained.  
"Wow... really?" Ruki blinked in wonder.  
The elevator chimed and the door pulled open. The floor was filled with people looking for their rooms.  
"Follow me, follow me. Don't get lost, don't get lost!" Kamiko said as she walked down the hall way to the right, walking as if she knew exactly where she was going and as if she'd done it a hundred times before. "Here it is." Kamiko dashed the cardkey through the lock and the door clicked and shifted open, "Home sweet home."  
Ruki stepped in, "Wow... not too shabby."  
"Tch, what'd you expect from..." Kamiko let the door slam shut behind her, "..the finest boarding school in all of Europe?"  
"I didn't really know what to expect..." Ruki admitted and walked over to a chair, setting her bag on it.  
"Well, this here bed has been mine since I came here. Hope you don't mind." Kamiko patted the bed on the far left of the room, closer to the doorway of another room.  
"Not at all..." Ruki left her bag there and walked through the doorway. "What's this?"  
"It's a living room! Don't you know anything? The dining room is over there." Kamiko pointed.  
"This is far nicer than any hotel I've ever stayed in ... it's almost like a hotel sweet..." Ruki wandered off toward the dining room area.  
"While you do that, I'm gonna ring the others down. You wanna meet them before school starts in case you have any classes with them." Kamiko said as she went back to the bedside where the only phone sat.  
Ruki hadn't heard as she examined the long, waxed, dark brown table with elegantly carved chairs that matched. "This is incredible..." She muttered to herself as she circled it.  
Kamiko poked her head into the living room, "You might wanna put on a uniform to make sure it fits! They never get the sizing right. They're hanging in your closet." Kamiko disappeared again, Ruki hadn't paid attention.  
Ruki leaned over and looked under the table, then crawled underneath it, studying the design of the wooden supports.  
When there was a knock at the door, Kamiko opened it.  
"About time you showed up! We've been waiting since Friday." Said one.  
"Oh man, you guys've been here since Friday??" Kamiko winced at the thought.  
"Thursday actually. Robert isn't coming until this evening though." Another answered.  
"Well, where's Oliver?" Kamiko asked.  
"He said he wanted to straighten the room up." Replied the first one again.  
"Eheh, I hope he doesn't find those candy bars I was hiding."  
"Enrique! I told you to bring them over!" Kamiko frowned at the second, blonde one.  
He shrugged, innocently, "I didn't want Oliver to see them."  
"Who needs Enrique's stupid melted chocolate anyway?" The first one walked past Kamiko and inside. "Oh my gosh, is that your bag, Kamiko?"  
Kamiko shut the door behind Enrique and looked at Johnny [the other one], "What? No, that's the new girl's bag."  
"What is she? A peasant who got lucky?" Johnny looked at the flimsy, old carpet bag.  
"You better be nice to her, Johnny, or I'll wring your neck." Kamiko threatened.  
"Come on you two, don't fight on the first day back!" Enrique interrupted. "So, where is this new girl anyway?"  
"In the other room, come 'ere." Kamiko led them through the living room and into the dining room. "Uh.. well I thought she was here. Ruki?"  
"Yeah?"  
Kamiko looked at the table, "Ok, where the heck are you?"  
"I'm under the table."  
Everybody blinked, silent.  
"Ok and what exactly are you doing there?" Kamiko looked annoyed.  
"I'm--ow!" There was a loud thump.  
Kamiko smacked her forehead with her hand.  
"Hahah! I bet she's embarressed that she's poor." Johnny laughed.  
"Shut up, Johnathan!" Kamiko growled, "Come out Ruki, I want you to meet my friends."  
"I'm coming ... "  
Johnny snickered, "She probably got lost under there."  
Ruki crawled out on the other side, rubbing her head.  
"Ruki, meet Enrique and Johnny. Enrique here is from Italy and Johnny is from Scotland. Guys, this is Ruki. She's from the US." Kamiko pointed as she introduced.  
"I knew it! Stupid Americans!" Johnny said, mockingly.  
"Johnathan MacGregor! Shut the hell up now or I'll sock you in the nose!" Kamiko snarled.  
"Sheesh, I'm just having a little fun." Johnny crossed his arms.  
"You're being freakin' mean! Say sorry, Johnny!" Kamiko demanded.  
"Say sorry?! For what?!" Johnny defended.  
"For being a jerk!" Kamiko argued.  
"Uh, I'll just be over here..." Ruki said, attempting to sneak off into the bedroom.  
Kamiko grabbed Ruki's shirt, stopping her, "No you're not! You're not going anywhere until Johnny says sorry!"  
"I'm not saying sorry 'cause I'm not sorry!" Johnny refused.  
"You two are always fighting. You act like an old married couple. Why don't you just chill out?" Enrique suggested.  
"Yeah Kamiko! Chill out!" Johnny repeated.  
Kamiko growled and gnashed her teeth, "Johnny you better say sorry or else..."  
Johnny smirked, challenging her, "Or else what?"  
"Or else..." Kamiko sneered, "you won't get your CD back."  
"My CD?? What CD?"  
Kamiko revealed a Linkin Park CD from who knows where, "The one I took from you at the end of last year."  
"WHAT?! You sleeze bag!! Give it back!" Johnny demanded, "That's a special edition CD you know!"  
"That's why I took it, smarty-pants." Kamiko glared.  
"Come on, Johnny. Just say sorry and get your CD back." Enrique adviced.  
"Actually since it's taken you so long, you'll have to do one other thing to get your CD back." Kamiko taunted.  
"WHAT?!"  
  
"Tonight at dinner, you have to get up in front of the entire cafeteria, stand up on a table and sing 'I'm a Little Teapot' with mashed carrots on your head." Kamiko smirked.  
"NO WAY!!" Johnny yelled.  
"No? Too bad, your CD is worth quite a bit of money. Didn't you say ... fifteen hundred bucks? Not only that but, it's not for sale anymore. It's limited edition remember?" Kamiko reminded him.  
"Aw Kamiko, that's mean." Ruki suddenly said.  
"I'm with her on this one!" Johnny snorted.  
"Mean is all part of the game, sister." Kamiko answered, "So, guess I should go get on eBay now and ... see what I can get out of this thing."  
"TOUCH THAT LAPTOP AND YOU'RE DEAD!!!" Johnny barked.  
"Just do it, Johnny. Everybody knows you're a goof anyway." Enrique tried to calm him down.  
"What's that supposed to mean?!" Johnny turned to Enrique for an answer.  
"Poor wittle Johnathan is afwaid." Kamiko mocked in baby talk.  
"Afraid?! Yeah right! Fine then! Ruki I apologize even though I didn't do anything to need to apologize."  
Ruki blinked.  
"Try that again, Johnny-boy. Say it like ya mean it." Kamiko added.  
Johnny growled and collected himself, "I apologize for supposedly being mean..."  
"Ah ah ah." Kamiko shook her head.  
"GRR!! What do you want?! You want an entire speech?!!" Johnny yelled, frustrated.  
"Johnny!! Just say sorry!!" Kamiko shouted back.  
"FINE I'M SORRY, OK?!!"  
"Johnathan." Kamiko said in a monotone, sing-songy voice, obviously not satisfied.  
"It's Ok! Apology accepted, can we stop yelling now?" Ruki quickly said.  
Johnny smirked and snorted, his arms crossed, "There ya see? It's good enough for penny girl."  
"You know what? Penny girl has a name, maybe you should learn to use it, smart stuff!" Kamiko growled, defensively.  
"Why don't we just go watch TV or something?" Enrique chuckled, somewhat nervous about this fight.  
"Why, so you can cuddle with your little girlfriend?" Johnny asked, mockingly.  
Enrique raised an eyebrow, "You .... know?"  
"How cute!" Ruki exclaimed.  
"Of course I know!" Johnny appeared irritated, then looked at Kamiko, "So, Kamiko, I think I'll be taking that CD back. Unless you want the entire cafeteria to know this evening."  
Kamiko frowned, "You're freakin' evil." She handed him the CD.  
"You know it. Mr. Evil, right here." Johnny smirked and put the CD in his cargo pocket. "So then, now we're even Kamiko."  
"Geh, fine. Just promise you won't be so mean to Ruki." Kamiko requested.  
"Why shouldn't I?" Johnny crossed his arms again.  
"First off, she's the new girl, and second she hasn't done anything to you! Besides, she'll be hanging with us for the next 4 years of highschool, might as well start treating her as a friend now."  
"Whatever. I'm ready for TV." Johnny left the room and headed toward the bedroom.  
Kamiko sighed, annoyed with Johnny.  
"It's Ok, Kamiko. Thanks for standing up for me but, really, it's Ok." Ruki looked up at her.  
"He does this every year. You'll get used to him though." Kamiko assured her and followed Enrique to the bedroom.  
Ruki sighed and followed as well.  
Johnny dropped himself on the bed closest to the wall, "I like this bed. It feels like nobody's slept in it for years."  
"Well, it was empty last year." Kamiko answered as she walked in the room. "And I think they changed the mattress at the end of the year before."  
"So, this is peasant girl's bed, I assume." Johnny reached for the remote on the nightstand inbetween the two beds.  
"It's Ruki's bed, Johnny. Ru---ki---. Can you say that, Johnny? Ru--- ki---."  
"Shut up, I can say it if I want." Johnny flipped the TV on while Ruki wandered to the chair with her bag on it. "There's probably nothing on..."  
Ruki put the bag on the floor and sat down at the small table made for two.  
There was a knock at the door. Kamiko got up and opened the door, "Oliver! Glad you could make it."  
"Hey Kamiko, how was your summer?" He asked, friendly-like.  
"It was great." Kamiko smiled.  
"Well that's good, mind if I come in?"  
"Please." Kamiko stood out of the way to let him in. "Oh, by the way. Oliver, this is Ruki. She's rooming with me. Ruki this is Oliver, he's from France."  
"It's a pleasure to meet you!" Oliver walked over to Ruki, who stood up to shake his hand.  
"Thanks, you too." Ruki answered.  
"So you're new here, huh? You must be pretty nervous." Oliver sat at the edge of the bed while Ruki sat back on her seat.  
"I am, actually." Ruki admitted.  
"Don't worry about it too much. You'll be fine. If you need help, you can just ask me or one of the others. We'll be glad to help you in anyway we can."  
"Thank you so much. I feel better already." Ruki smiled.  
"Hey Oliver, I should be the one to warn you that she's cheap." Johnny said.  
Oliver looked over his shoulder at his friend, "What do you mean?"  
"She's a poor girl who got lucky, that's all. You shouldn't bother with the likes of her." Johnny finished.  
"Johnathan!!!" Kamiko sprang to her feet. "You should learn to keep your big fat mouth shut!!"  
"What? I'm just telling the truth!"  
"Why don't you just be the biggest jerk in the world?" Kamiko crossed her arms, angrily.  
"Maybe I will be." Johnny flipped the channel.  
"It's Ok, Kamiko..." Ruki sighed.  
"What? No it's not!" Kamiko replied.  
Ruki stood up, "No, really, it's fine. I understand how it is." She walked into the other room and sat at the dining room table, twiddling her thumbs.  
"Look what you did, Johnathan! You made her cry!!" Kamiko yelled.  
"Then she can cry me a river and drown in it." Johnny replied, carelessly.  
Kamiko picked up the digital clock from the nightstand and hurled it at him.  
"OWWW!!" Johnny rubbed his head.  
"I hope that hurt! You better straighten up, Johnny!" Kamiko angrily left the room to get Ruki.  
Johnny continued to rub the sore spot he just received, "Good grief, Enrique. Your girlfriend is a pain..."  
"Well, that was a rather cold thing to say, Johnny..." Oliver said in a slightly low voice.  
"Not you too..."  
"He's right, Johnny. You should learn the meaning of the word 'sensitive' and put it to use." Enrique agreed.  
"Tch, you guys make me sad." Johnny said sarcastically.  
Kamiko shouted from the other room, "JOHNNY GET YOUR BUTT IN HERE!!"  
"You act like my mom!!" Johnny yelled back.  
"I SAID GET IN HERE!!!"  
"Ugh, good grief." Johnny dropped the remote and got up, going to where Kamiko sat at the table with Ruki. "What now?"  
"You get over here and say your sorry, and you better the heck mean it!" Kamiko growled.  
"What?"  
"Stop treating Ruki like a nobody and start treating her like a person! We're all supposed to be friends here!" Kamiko felt the need to remind him of this.  
"You know what? I don't even know why you let her be our friend! She comes out of the blue and you're suddenly her best friend?! What's up with that?" Johnny sounded upset.  
"Even if she wasn't our friend, I'd expect you to act like a gentleman around her."  
"Yeah well, I only act like a gentleman around real ladies, not pauper's girls." Johnny replied arrogantly and went back into the other room.  
Kamiko sighed, "What a jerk..."  
  
Later at supper, all boarding residents were to report in school uniform, so the boys had left earlier to change.  
'Remember, Ruki, don't let anybody get you down. We're equal here because we're here for an education, not to see who you can out do or who has more money.' Ruki thought to herself as she waited for Kamiko to change.  
"We ready to go?"  
Ruki lifted her head to see Kamiko drop her clothes onto her bed, "Yeah."  
"Ok, lets go then. We probably won't meet the others until we get to our table." Kamiko said as she adjusted the cuffs on her sleeves.  
"How exactly does this work...?" Ruki asked.  
"Well, every year you get to choose where you wanna sit, then you're assigned to sit there every breakfast and supper. They'll probably already have a table by the time we get there cause we're called down by floors, and the other four are on level 5." Kamiko explained and opened the door. "Lets go."  
Ruki followed Kamiko to the elevator. The others in the hall were bustling about, getting instructions and what not. Kamiko and Ruki joined several others on their way down to the cafeteria on the ground floor.  
"Remember to stay close, it's crazy the first night here." Kamiko warned when they reached the ground floor. She led Ruki to the cafeteria and began to search for her friends.  
"What're you looking for?" Ruki asked.  
"The others. We're supposed to go to our table first." Kamiko replied, standing on her tip toes to see over people's heads. "There they are! Come on!" Kamiko grabbed Ruki's hand and pushed through all the people, "Heya guys! Glad we found ya." Kamiko sat down.  
"We're glad too. They should be nearly ready to start serving dinner." Oliver replied.  
Kamiko looked up at Ruki who was still standing, "What's wrong? Aren't you gonna sit down?"  
"No... I don't think so.." Ruki sighed as she looked at her feet.  
Kamiko stood up and turned Ruki away so their backs faced the boys, "What's the matter?"  
"I'm... not feeling well."  
"If it's because Johnny's here, just ignore him." Kamiko replied.  
"I can't sit at a table with him. I'd be too self-concious." Ruki frowned.  
"Well, where do you plan to sit then and with whom?"  
"....I don't know... I just want to go back to my grandma's house.." Ruki said, her eyes welling with tears.  
"Don't cry, please don't cry! It'll be Ok. Johnny just doesn't like the idea of change, that's all. You'll see, he'll get used to you and then things'll be cool between you. Just hang in there Ok?" Kamiko said, trying to comfort her.  
"I don't think I can.." Ruki sniffled, wiping a tear from her cheek.  
"Well I know you can. How about we ask if we can take our supper up to our room, and we can eat up there, just you and I. Ok?" Kamiko offered.  
Ruki smiled, "Really?" She wiped another tear from her eye.  
"Yeah." Kamiko nodded. "Come on, lets go." She turned to the boys, "We're gonna go ask if we can eat upstairs. Ruki isn't feeling well."  
"Oh tell her to stop crying about everything!" Johnny said, sourly.  
"And you, Mr. MacGregor, need to stop commenting on everything!" Kamiko looked at the other two, "We'll see you tomorrow morning, Ok?"  
"Alright, we'll see you later then." Oliver said, kindly.  
"Sleep well and sweet dreams!" Enrique called after Kamiko as they left, Kamiko waving as a reply.  
After they sorted things out with Gustav at the counter, they grabbed their dinner and went back upstairs.  
"Thanks..." Ruki said as they rode up the elevator.  
"Any time, pal. Listen, don't worry about a thing, Ok? By next week, we'll all have adjusted to going back to school and everything and you'll see you'll like it here." Kamiko said.  
The elevator stopped and the door opened. Kamiko led Ruki back toward the room, "Do you really think Johnny will get used to me?" She asked, somewhat sadly.  
"Of course he will. There's no doubt in my mind he'll come around." Kamiko nodded, confidentally. 


	2. Dont scare me, Johnny

The next morning was Monday, first day back to school.  
"This is perfect. I like the way this school system works cause you usually get in the same classes as your friends just because you're in the same grade." Kamiko said as she read her schedule at the breakfast table, her mouth full of milk and cereal.  
"May I please see?" Oliver requested. Kamiko handed him the schedule to see.  
"At least this year we stay on just one level of the school." Johnny said as he munched on a piece of toast.  
"They must've changed it from last year 'cause I was on all four floors." Enrique stated.  
"Let me see your schedule." Kamiko asked and took the schedule from Enrique's hand. "Lets see... you're in all of my classes too. What luck." She cheered as she stuffed another spoonful of cereal in her mouth.  
"Oh great. Just don't start making out in the back of the classroom or something." Johnny complained.  
"Quit your whining!" Kamiko looked at her watch, "Ruki should've been down here by now... I wonder what's taking her."  
"Why didn't she come down with you?" Oliver looked up from the schedule paper to ask.  
"She was getting ready when I left and said to go ahead without her. We have to go to the building in ten minutes." Kamiko said before she picked up her bowl and slurped up the remaining milk.  
"Who cares? She's probably upstairs crying about something else. We should just leave her here." Johnny said, irritabley.  
"Shut up, Johnathan. I promised her I'd go with her to class since we're in the same class room anyway." Kamiko said, looking at the schedule in her hand.  
"There she is." Oliver said, looking toward the entrance way.  
Kamiko looked over her shoulder and watched Ruki approach, "There you are. I almost thought you weren't gonna show."  
"Were you crying again? Heh. That's pretty pathetic, even for a little girl." Johnny smirked.  
"Ignore him. Have a seat, want something to eat? I can go something for you if you want." Kamiko offered.  
"No thanks, I'm fine." Ruki answered.  
"No breakfast? Are you crazy?" Enrique suddenly said.  
"I never have breakfast..." Ruki blinked.  
"No breakfast? No wonder you're so airheaded. Well, at least partially the reason." Johnny amused himself with his teasing.  
"Johnny, put a sock in it." Kamiko hissed and turned back to Ruki, "Are you really sure you don't want any breakfast?"  
"I'm sure." Ruki nodded.  
"Ok ... " Kamiko said, unsurely. She suddenly stood up, "Ok guys, lets leave early so we can dibs the best seats!"  
"What a great idea! I'd like one of the front seats." Oliver said as he stood up.  
"I want the back corner. Any back corners left open go to me, got it?" Johnny made clear.  
"I'll take center back with Enrique." Kamiko agreed. She looked down at Ruki who was just standing up herself, "Where do you wanna sit?"  
"I think I'll sit up front with Oliver.." Ruki turned to Oliver, "-- if you don't mind that is..."  
"Not at all! I'm glad I won't be the only one of us up there." Oliver smiled.  
"Great then, lets go." Kamiko announced.  
The five marched out the front doors to the highschool. A few others were already on their way there too.  
Enrique held Kamiko's hand as they walked, "I sure hope we're going the right way. With four different school buildings who knows which one to go to anymore."  
"I'm sure this is it. I double checked one of the maps inside before I came downstairs for breakfast." Oliver said.  
"It better be. If we come late we'll be stuck with the worst seats in class all year!" Johnny moaned.  
"Stop complaining back there, Carrots!" Kamiko instructed.  
"I'm not complaining, and don't call me Carrots, doofus!" Johnny ordered back.  
"Please don't fight, not this early in the morning." Oliver sighed.  
"Yeah, Johnny... we're all tired of hearing your voice." Enrique grinned.  
"Pfft, why's everybody ganging up against me all of a sudden?" Johnny sighed as he put his arms behind his head.  
"Because ... you're a pain." Kamiko said, simply.  
"I'm no more pain than you are." Johnny glared at her.  
"You wanna bet?" Kamiko looked over her shoulder at him.  
"Sure, whatta ya wanna bet?" Johnny challenged her.  
"I'll bet you my desert this evening that the teacher will get annoyed with you before she gets annoyed with me."  
"Fine then, desert it is. We'll see who comes out the winner here." Johnny grinned, confidentally.  
"Too bad one of you is gonna lose desert, though I'm sure Johnny is gonna be the one going without desert tonight." Enrique smiled with amusement.  
"Of course you side with your stupid girlfriend!" Johnny growled.  
"Look, all I'm saying is you have a way of getting along with people ... or should I say, not getting along with people. You just get under everyone's skin, that's all." Enrique explained.  
"That's all?" Kamiko raised an eyebrow, "No no no, there's much more than just that. But we won't go there... yet." There was an evil sparkle in Kamiko's eye.  
"Well, here it is you guys." Oliver said as they all stopped to look up at the building.  
"It looks kinda like a freakin' motel inn." Johnny frowned.  
"It's kind of an old building, but they've already started building a new one. It should be open next year, the down side is it's a bit further away. We'll have to take buses." Oliver explained.  
"Well, lets see." Kamiko pulled Enrique inside with her, the other three following.  
"Woa, this place must be ancient." Enrique said as he looked around.  
"Yeah, it's totally empty too." Johnny added.  
"That's perfect, lets go find our room. It should be on floor one, room 145." Kamiko said as they looked for the elevator.  
"This place is... kinda creepy." Enrique said as he looked around, following Kamiko.  
"Somebody needs to turn on the lights..." Johnny said, sounding fearless.  
"It is kinda dark. Ruki, are you still with us?" Oliver looked over his shoulder.  
"Yeah, I'm here." Ruki answered, quietly.  
"Stay close to us, this place is a riot, from what I've heard, when the bell rings." Oliver said.  
"Uh, Ok..." Ruki said, her voice a bit fearful.  
"What, you aren't afraid of this shabby old dump are you? You've probably lived in something simular, except much smaller. Like a shack or something." Johnny mocked somemore.  
"Ignore him, Ruki." Oliver told her as they approached the elevator.  
"Here it is." Kamiko said, "All aboard!"  
"Are you sure that thing is safe?" Enrique looked at it, skeptically.  
Johnny walked up beside him, "Yeah, it looks like it's rusted over. And if it does move, it'll go crashing through the ground with just two people on."  
"Come on, don't be a scaredy cat!" Kamiko provoked.  
"Tch, a scaredy cat, eh?" Johnny stepped on.  
"Well, here goes..." Enrique said as he got on. He looked at Oliver and Ruki, "You two coming or what?"  
"Uh, I think I'll take the staircase up..." Oliver said. He peered at Ruki who appeared to be hiding behind him, "You wanna come with me?"  
Ruki looked up at him and nodded.  
"Ok then you guys take the long way." Kamiko granted.  
"We'll meet you there." Oliver said and turned around, "Come on Ruki. The staircase is probably somewhere down this hall." Oliver and Ruki disappeared around the dark corner.  
"O---k, here we go." Kamiko pressed the one on the panel. She waited.  
"I don't think you pressed it hard enough." Enrique said and pushed it harder. The light behind it turned on, "See."  
"Thank you, Enrique." Kamiko said, flirtatiously.  
"Oh please!" Johnny interrupted from the corner. "Wait 'til lunch or after school or something, I don't wanna see this."  
Kamiko glared at Johnny, "I'll beat your head in first."  
"I'd like to see you try." Johnny laughed.  
"Just ignore him." Enrique sighed, "Maybe he'll disappear and fade away or something."  
"That would be a miracle, but here's hopin'!" Kamiko agreed.  
Meanwhile, Oliver led Ruki down the dark hallway.  
"This place is kinda creepy when it's empty, isn't it?" Oliver said as he looked around.  
"Are you sure it's not this creepy when there people here?" Ruki asked, staying close.  
"You'd think when there people here there would be lights on... but I might be wrong." Oliver continued to search for the staircase.  
"Oliver...?"  
"Yeah?" Olivered looked over his shoulder at her.  
Ruki looked up at him, her face pale with fright, "Do you get the feeling something is following us...?"  
"Uh..." Oliver looked past her, into the darkness, unable to see anything but the past two classroom doors on either side they had just passed. "Well, I don't see anything." He looked down at her, "Are you scared?"  
Ruki managed a slight, crooked smile, "Me? Scared?"  
"Come on, the staircase should be nearby." Oliver continued forwards, the only sound heard were the tapping of their shoes.  
"I hope so..." Ruki muttered to herself.  
As they continued to trot, an unsancrinized pair of tapping joined them, not matching either of their feet.  
"Oliver...?"  
Oliver's eye shifted about as he searched, "Yeah?"  
"Do you hear that?" Ruki whispered.  
Oliver gulped, "I do... Whatever you do, don't look back."  
"Can I hold your hand?" Ruki requested.  
Oliver was a bit stiff, "Yeah."  
Ruki took his hand, feeling slightly better and making Oliver feel slightly better too, but it wasn't enough to send the heeby jeebies away.  
"There it is. The staircase." Oliver said, "Remember, don't stop, keep going no matter what. We'll get there alright if we don't panic, Ok?"  
"Yes, Ok..." Ruki trembled with fear as they began to climb the rubber-topped stairs.  
"Even paced.." Oliver reminded her.  
Ruki took a hard swallow as they reached the sixth step, "I think it's following us..." She whispered.  
"It's Ok... Just hang on..." Oliver held his breath. "We're almost at the top... Our room should be on this side of the hallway too."  
"I hope..." Ruki bit her lip.  
They reached the top and walked to the first door to see the room number, "250?!" Oliver exclaimed. "How is this possible?"  
"Do you think our room is on the second floor?" Ruki asked.  
"I don't know... This is so strange." Oliver stared at the number as if it were a monster. He sighed, somewhat frustrated, "We'll keep walking down this hall, if there's another staircase that goes up, we'll go that way in hopes that our number is up there. And maybe if we're lucky we'll catch the others on the elevator."  
Ruki followed Oliver, the other pair of shoes still making their way up the steps.  
"Do you think we should run?" Ruki asked.  
"No, it would provoke whatever's following us to run after us..." Oliver replied, "Just stay calm. We'll get there Ok..."  
"Do you think the others are as lost as we are?" Ruki looked up at Oliver for an answer.  
"I wish I knew..." Oliver replied, unsurely.  
Meanwhile...  
"Man, I can't believe this stupid thing got stuck!" Johnny moaned as he sat in the corner of the elevator.  
"No kidding." Kamiko sighed.  
"Hey, wait, what if we pull open the doors. Maybe if we're lucky we can climb out of the step-out place." Enrique suggested.  
"Johnathan, get off your butt and help Enrique pull the door open!" Kamiko ordered.  
"What?! And you think you don't have to help?"  
"I'm a lady, of course I don't have to help." Kamiko batted her eyelashes.  
"That's a load of crap!" Johnny protested.  
"We don't have time to argue, get over here Johnny!" Enrique growled as he attempted to push the doors apart.  
"Gah! Stupid girls..." Johnny muttered as he pulled on the opposing door.  
"Come on guys, I know you can do it!" Kamiko cheered.  
"Shut up, you're ruining my concentration!" Johnny growled.  
"And talking is helping?" Enrique looked at him skeptically.  
"If I don't say anything she won't shut up." Johnny sighed, annoyed.  
Suddenly the doors bursted open and Johnny and Enrique flew in opposite direction.  
Kamiko stood up, "Wow, it opened by itself. Guess it was stuck."  
"Hey look up there, that must be the second floor." Johnny stood up. "Somebody gimme a boost so I can climb up."  
"Ah ah ah, ladies first." Kamiko shoved him aside, "Would you help me, Enrique?"  
Enrique got up and rubbed his head, "Uh, yeah." He walked over and kneeled by her, putting his hands together. "We're gonna have to do this quickly, or you'll break my hands."  
"Will do." Kamiko nodded and put her foot in his hands.  
"Ready?" Enrique pulled her up.  
Kamiko jumped for the opening and squirmed out, "Whew. All clear." She went back over and leaned in, "Who's up next? Enrique, why don't you come. You're taller, I don't think I'd be able to reach Johnny."  
"What?!" Johnny snarled.  
"Yeah, Ok." Enrique reached up, struggling to grab her hand.  
"Johnathan! Give Enrique a boost!" Kamiko ordered.  
"Yeah right!"  
"Wait, I have an idea." Enrique got off his tiptoes, "Johnny, climb up on my back and you go up first."  
"Alright, that's what I'm talkin' about!" Johnny seemed pleased and climbed onto Enrique's back, easily climbing up without Kamiko's aid.  
"Johnathan, go find something to help Enrique out with." Kamiko told him.  
"Why do I have to go?" Johnny protested again.  
"Because, you're supposed to be the fearless gladiator of Glasgow. So live up to your name for once!"  
"Ah what would you know?" Johnny trotted off down the dark hall to find something.  
Kamiko looked into the elevator at Enrique, "Johnny just left to find something to help us with. Hopefully there'll be a hose or something around."  
"A hose? This place is so old, I doubt it has fire exstinguisher's built in."  
"Well, there's always hoping." Kamiko sighed.  
Johnny wandered down the hall, "Pfft. Live up to your name. What the heck is that supposed to mean?" He suddenly stopped, seeing two figures coming. "What's that?" He waited a moment until the two were revealed to be "Oliver!" and Ruki.  
"What're you doing here Johnny?" Oliver walked up to him, "And where the other two?"  
"The elevator got stuck and so did Enrique. I have to go find something to get him out with." Johnny crossed his arms. "Say, do you hear that?"  
Oliver's face dropped, "You mean it wasn't just our imagination?"  
Johnny's face suddenly turned blue as the tapping continued.  
Ruki clinged to Oliver's jacket, afraid to look back.  
"Uh oh..." Oliver slowly looked over his shoulder. "AAAHHHH!!!"  
"WAAHHH!!!"  
"EEEEE!!"  
All three dashed off down the hall, screaming.  
"WHAT IS THAT THING??!!" Johnny yelled as he ran.  
"I DON'T KNOW BUT IT'S NOT SOMETHING I WANNA GET TO KNOW!!" Oliver replied, not far behind Johnny.  
Kamiko looked up as she heard the three screams and saw them coming, "What on earth?!"  
"What the heck is that?" Enrique asked from inside the elevator.  
"The gladiator is screaming like a little girl." Kamiko sighed.  
The three screeched to a halt by Kamiko.  
"Ghost!! There's a ghost!" Johnny wheezed as he pointed down the hall.  
"A ghost?!" Kamiko started cracking up, "HAHAH a ghost?! Eheh ...." She stopped to study the thing getting rapidly closer. "GHOST!!!!"  
"Ghost?!" Enrique exclaimed from inside the elevator.  
"GHOST!!!" The four uptop exclaimed simultaniously as they huddled together. "AAAHHHHH!!!!!"  
The ghost stopped and began to laugh. The four continued to scream while Enrique tried to see what was going on.  
"I sure had you going this time." The ghost said.  
The four stopped.  
"What?" Johnny blinked.  
The ghost pulled off its white sheet.  
"ROBERT?!"  
Indeed, it was Robert, and he was laughing almost hystarically.  
Everyone heaved a sigh of relief. The lights turned on.  
Ruki dropped to the ground, panting.  
"That was cruel and unusual, Robert!" Johnny growled.  
"It was funny and amusing too." Robert laughed.  
"Boy you really had us going." Oliver chuckled.  
"I did, didn't I." Robert nodded, pleased with his preformance.  
Kamiko knelt next to Ruki, slightly chuckling, "Are you Ok?"  
"I ... think so.." Ruki said inbetween breaths.  
Enrique walked over to them, "What was that all about?"  
Kamiko looked at him, "What?! How'd you get out?"  
"The elevator turned back on." Enrique raised an eyebrow.  
"You mean to tell me you planned this whole thing?!" Johnny looked at Robert.  
"Uh-huh. Senior prank." Robert smirked.  
"Ugh!" Johnny retorted.  
"Well, this is kind of an awkward way to meet but, before I forget, Robert this is Ruki. She's boarding with me. Ruki, this is the ghost, or also known as the famous Robert Jurgin. He's from Germany." Kamiko explained as she looked down at her friend.  
"Nice to meet you." Ruki got to her feet and shook Robert's hand, "My mother was German. I was staying with my grandmother there before I came here."  
"Is that so? Where does she live?" Robert asked with interest.  
"Altenstein. Do you know it? It has some old castle ruins up on the top of the hill."  
"Yes, I know that place. I actually bought that land with the castle remains not too long ago." Robert recalled.  
"You bought it?" Ruki exclaimed with alarm.  
"Yes. They didn't have enough funds to rebuild it anyway so by purchasing it I aided in the cause."  
"They're rebuilding it...?" Ruki blinked.  
"It's more like rebuilding the ruins how they had been so it doesn't calapse further but it's still very expensive. But it's no dent in my wallet." Robert answered.  
"I see..."  
"Forget about the stupid castles, we still have to go get dibs on best seats!" Johnny interrupted.  
"Right. Lets go find our room then." Kamiko agreed.  
"I'll be seeing you later then, I need to go to the other building." Robert mentioned before they left.  
"See ya, Robbie. Come on, lets go guys." Kamiko turned back to the others and led them to the other end of the hallway. "Here it is, 145." She twisted the door knob and the medal door swung open. She reached in and felt around the wall until she felt the light switch. "And there was light! And Kamiko saw that it was good... Woohoo!" Kamiko ran to the back and jumped into her seat. "Perfect."  
"About time we got here." Johnny snorted and went with Enrique to the back.  
Ruki wandered to the farthest seat from the door and sat there. Oliver followed and sat beside her.  
"This is gonna be great." Oliver said cheerfully.  
Other people began to come in to take their seats. Before long the entire room was full, but the teacher still hadn't shown, nor had the bell rung.  
"I wonder where she could be..." Oliver tapped his finger on his chin.  
Ruki shrugged and looked down at her desk. Her eyes turned big and she jumped back and out of her seat.  
"What's wrong?"  
"There's a spider on my desk!" Ruki staired at the brown spider, who wasn't doing much at the time.  
Oliver jumped up, "A spider?!"  
Kamiko stood up in the back, "Alright, I'll take care of this!" She stomped up to the front to Ruki's desk and prepared to smash it with her fist.  
"Wait don't smash it, at least not with your bare hands!" Ruki stopped her.  
"What? Why?" Kamiko looked at her.  
"That's a brown recluse, it's poisoness you know!"  
"Whatta you want me to do? Step on it?" Kamiko asked, annoyed.  
"Get outta the way, I'll kill it!" Johnny said, shoving Kamiko aside.  
"This is gonna be interesting." Kamiko snickered.  
Everybody watched as Johnny climbed up on the desk and the jumped on the spider, causing the desk to calapse just as the teacher was in the doorway. Everybody held their breath and then began to laugh.  
"HAHAH!! Way to go, Johnathan!" Kamiko cracked up.  
"Excuse me, young man, but there is a rule about climbing up on desks." The teacher warned as she walked over to him.  
"There was a brown recluse on it, what was I supposed to do?" Johnny remarked, crossing his arms.  
"Don't make excuses, get in your seat now!" The teacher ordered.  
Johnny grumbled as he walked back to his seat with Kamiko behind him snickering. When they reached the back, Kamiko poked Johnny in the arm, "Looks like you just lost your desert!"  
Johnny gave her a death glare but said nothing.  
Ruki helped the teacher carry the broken desk to the corner of the room. "I'm afraid we don't have any extra desks at this time, so you can just pull your chair up to the side of my desk and sit there until we have it replaced." The teacher said.  
"Thank you." Ruki nodded and went back to get her chair.  
The teacher stood behind her desk, "Alright, everybody quiet. I'd like to introduce myself, my name is Ms. Spzielman and I'll be your teacher for the entire year. Now a few of you have already managed to get on my bad side..." She eyed Johnny in the back, "But, I'm sure you'll have a chance to redeem yourself sometime before the year ends."  
Ruki dropped herself in the seat by the desk and looked up at the young teacher to listen.  
"I'm hoping because there are only 22 of us here, that we'll be able to do plenty of fun activities, so long as you behave, I'll do my best not to make this a snore for you. So, first off, I'd like to pass out the book and workbook we'll be using for this year." Ms. Spzielman looked at Ruki, "Would you pass these out for me?"  
"Sure." Ruki stood up and took the handfull of books.  
"Thank you so much, now, what's your name?"  
"Ruki."  
"Ruki, how nice." Ms. Spzielman turned to the class, "Ruki is going to be handing you a book. You'll need to put your name on the list on the inside and I'll come around to see what number you have. You'll be responsible for returning the same book number in at the end of the year, and if you don't, there's a fee. There's also a seperate fee to pay for the book if it's ripped or lost, so take care of your books." Shes instructed.  
Ruki went around, handing the books one by one to every student, occassionally having to go back to get more.  
"Now while Ruki does that, let me take role call." The teacher looked at a list of names and began to call them out.  
After Ruki finished passing out the large text books, she grabbed all the workbooks and passed those out as well.  
"Any questions?" Ms. Spzielman asked after finishing role call. "Good, now that everybody has their text book, I'd like you to open to page seven, please."  
At the end of class, everybody left to lunch with their workbooks in hand.  
"I can't believe it, homework on the first night!" Johnny complained.  
"Stop whining! This is way easy stuff. We can do it together at dinner." Kamiko said.  
"That's a great idea." Oliver said as they walked down the hall with the rest of the other classes.  
"Of course it is, I thought of it." Kamiko grinned, haughtilly.  
"Where do we go after this?" Enrique asked.  
"Lets see." Kamiko pulled out her schedule from her notebook. "Room 127. It's at the other end of the hall."  
"And after that?" Oliver looked over Kamiko's shoulder, trying to see.  
"Room... 166." Kamiko replied.  
"What? That's upstairs though." Enrique sighed.  
"There four floors here, but this building is only for freshmen and sophomores, right?" Oliver looked at the others for an answer.  
"Yeah. That means Room's 251 through 299 are all on the fourth floor. That's so messed up!" Kamiko replied.  
"No kidding." Johnny growled, "No wonder they're in a hurry to finish the new building, maybe they'll actually have the numbers right!"  
"Quit complaining, Johnathan. You're the biggest whiner I've ever come across." Kamiko teased.  
"Oh yeah right." Johnny shook his head.  
"Say, do any of you know where that paperwod came from that hit me?" Kamiko looked at her friends. "Ruki! You little troublemaker! That wasn't you was it?"  
Ruki chuckled, "No, but I know who it was."  
"Really? Who?" Kamiko looked down at her friend.  
"It was the kid who sits against the wall on the left side, third seat from the front."  
Kamiko blinked.  
"He had brown hair and the top was bleached and he looked--"  
"Like a druggy?" Kamiko finished.  
"...Yeah, sort've." Ruki answered.  
"I'll personally pound him if he tries to flirt with you again." Enrique growled.  
"Ooohh, getting a little defensive, are we, Enrique?" Johnny snickered.  
"Hah, I'll be sure to give it to you when you get a girlfriend!" Enrique laughed back.  
"As if that will ever happen." Kamiko chuckled.  
Johnny crossed his arms, "Hmph, like I'd care either way. I don't want a girlfriend anyway."  
"Now you know that's a lie!" Kamiko turned around to look at Johnny, walking backwards now.  
"And how would you know?" Johnny put up a fist.  
"I can see it in your eyes." Kamiko grinned, mischieviously.  
"You're full of crap, you know that, right?" Johnny crossed his arms again.  
"You only wish that were true." Kamiko sneered.  
Down in the lunch room, they stood in line with trays, waiting to get something to eat.  
"Hey Ruki, why don't you have a tray?" Kamiko looked behind her at Ruki.  
"What? Oh, I'm not hungry."  
"Not hungry? Are you crazy? You haven't eaten anything all day! You have to be hungry!"  
"Uh, no.. I'm just not hungry." Ruki shrugged.  
Johnny leaned forward so Kamiko would hear him, "Peasant girl here is used to not eating three meals a day, why should she start now if she's gonna be going back to one meal a day--if she's lucky, that is."  
"Johnathan MacGregor, that's gonna cost you your lunch desert for the next week! Hand it over!!" Kamiko demanded.  
"Pfft, yeah right. I've already lost my desert for dinner, there's no way I'm giving up my lunch desert too." Johnny refused.  
"Then you better zip the lip and leave Ruki alone!" Kamiko sighed with frustration.  
"Hey if I didn't remind you of the truth, who would?" Johnny continued.  
Kamiko twisted around, "That's it!" She pushed Ruki aside and took the desert off Johnny's tray, "No desert for you, young man until you learn to treat everybody equally with respect regardless of their social class!"  
"Hey! You can't just take my desert, you brat!" Johnny growled.  
"Yeah well yannow what? I just did!" Kamiko shouted then turned to Ruki, "Come on, lets go find ourselves a table." She walked off, Ruki following at her heels.  
"That's just great!" Johnny snorted.  
Kamiko walked Ruki to a table with Enrique, "Hey, where's Oliver?" Kamiko asked as she set her tray down.  
"I dunno, he said he had to go do something." Enrique shrugged and ate a french fry.  
"Huh, go figure." Kamiko sat down, Ruki taking a seat next to her.  
"Where's your food, Ruki?" Enrique asked, eating another french fry.  
"I'm not hungry." Ruki rolled her eyes, uneasily.  
"Not hungry?" Enrique looked at her skeptically, "How could you not be hungry? You haven't even had breakfast."  
"I'm just not hungry." Ruki shrugged.  
Kamiko leaned over, looking at Ruki from the corner of her eye, "You're not anerexic are you?"  
"What? Of course not." Ruki answered, a bit surprised at the question.  
"Ok. I'm sure you're still getting used to this place, I understand." Kamiko nodded and sat back in her chair.  
"Eheh..." Ruki chuckled, weakly.  
Johnny slammed his tray on the table, "Ok Kamiko, I want my desert back now!"  
"Too bad, you can't have it." Kamiko taunted him.  
"You took his desert?" Enrique asked.  
"He was making fun of Ruki, I had to take drastic measures." Kamiko shrugged, innocently.  
"Drastic measures?! I hardly call that drastic measures, that's more like stealing." Johnny accused.  
"Why don't you just go get another one?" Enrique looked up at him, munching somemore on his fries.  
"You're only allowed getting one, don't you know!" Johnny growled.  
Ruki stood up as if she wanted to say something.  
"What's up, Ruki?" Kamiko asked, looking up at her.  
"Nothing. Just... standing." Ruki shrugged.  
"Give me my pudding!" Johnny demanded.  
Kamiko shoved a spoonful of it in her mouth, "Never!"  
"Um..."  
"Take another bite and I'll shove it all in your face!" Johnny threatened.  
"Ooo, that's your pudding wasted, not mine." Kamiko reminded him, pointing at him with her spoon.  
"Hey.. how about you just.. take my desert, Johnny?" Ruki offered.  
"Say what?" Johnny glared at her.  
"I'll go up there and get you what you want so they don't think you're trying to take seconds and you can just leave Kamiko to her food." Ruki explained.  
"Ruki, you can't be serious!" Kamiko objected.  
Ruki looked at Johnny, "So, what do you say?"  
Johnny gave her a suspicious eye, "What's the catch?"  
"Huh? The catch? There's no catch..." Ruki chuckled, becoming a bit nervous.  
"So, the little peasant girl wants to buy the rich and famous Johnny MacGregor a pudding? Can you even take the extra bill?" Johnny snickered.  
"You shouldn't worry about it anyway." Ruki rolled her eyes, a bit tired of the jokes, "So do you want the pudding or not? Or do you want something else maybe?"  
"Why do you wanna get me desert?" Johnny crossed his arms.  
"Well why not?"  
"I can give you a hundred reasons why!" Kamiko volunteered, "I'll give you a whole list of reasons!"  
"Shut up, Kamiko and stay out of it!" Johnny ordered.  
"I think Johnny wants that desert whether he admits it or not." Enrique grinned.  
"Ugh, fine, but you should consider this an honor, not a routine or a good will deed!" Johnny said and began to march to the front where the food was.  
Ruki shrugged and chuckled, shortly following.  
"Geez, she really didn't have to do that." Enrique said in surprise.  
"She really shouldn't have done that. Johnny won't feel bad for pushing her around now because he'll still get his desert... from her." Kamiko added with a sigh as she took the last bite of the chocolate pudding.  
When they came back, Johnny set his pudding cup down with a triumphet smirk, "Hah! Even though you took my pudding, I still got desert!"  
"Don't you feel special?" Kamiko looked at him from the corner of her eyes.  
Johnny sat down behind his tray, "Getting food from a peasant girl isn't what I'd call special or honorable, but that can just be our little secret." He took a spoonful of his pudding.  
Ruki sat next to Kamiko again, "Yeah, we'll be sure to announce to everyone at graduation that in the 9th grade, Johnathan MacGregor got pudding from a peasant girl. Yeah that's gonna make everyone in shock, especially considering the 'peasant girl' wasn't a peasant." Kamiko raised an eyebrow.  
"Say anything and I'll destroy you!" Johnny growled.  
Kamiko laughed, "Destroy me, huh?"  
"You heard me." Johnny put another spoon of pudding in his mouth.  
"You have such a way with words." Enrique chuckled.  
Johnny muttered something as he licked his spoon clean.  
"Aren't you even gonna say thanks?" Kamiko asked, expectantly.  
"What?" Johnny looked up from his chocolatey mush.  
"You owe Ruki a thanks." Kamiko glared at him.  
"Hah? Me? Thank her? She should be thanking me!" Johnny replied as he made sure to have gotten every last bit of pudding out of his cup.  
Kamiko burst out in laughter, "She owes you thanks?"  
"Of course! I let her buy me a pudding." Johnny said as if she had forgotten.  
"Johnny, get serious. You know you wanted her to." Kamiko narrowed her eyebrows, a bit frustrated.  
"What does that have to do with anything?" Johnny growled.  
"It has to do with everything! You wouldn't have had a pudding if it wasn't for her! Say thanks, Johnathan!" Kamiko ordered.  
"Hmph, yeah right." Johnny pushed the empty cup of pudding aside with the rest of his things.  
"Hey, you know what? By tomorrow, they'll have the cafeteria set up like it was last year. Guess they got behind because of the other building's construction." Oliver suddenly said.  
"Like last year? Finally! I'm tired of serving myself." Kamiko nodded.  
Ruki looked at Kamiko, "What was it like last year?"  
"Well, to sum it up, it was pretty much like eating at a restaurant." Enrique answered for Kamiko.  
"Oh ... like .. McDonald's or something, no?" Ruki asked.  
Johnny laughed, "Like McDonald's?! Who the heck eats there?"  
"Not like a fast food restaurant, you know, like a place where you sit down, you order something to eat and the waiters bring it to you when it's ready." Kamiko explained.  
"You mean like a fancy restaurant?" Ruki seemed surprised.  
"Hardly fancy." Kamiko chuckled, "But I guess for you it would be."  
"Peh, commoner." Johnny mumbled under his breath.  
"You gonna help in the back again, Oliver?" Enrique looked at his friend.  
"I hope so."  
"Oliver makes the greatest dishes!" Kamiko looked at Ruki to expand, "He always helped the chef in the back. In fact, I heard he did most of the work rather than the chef."  
"That's a lot of cooking..." A sweatdrop slid down Ruki's face.  
"Oliver can handle it." Enrique said with confidence.  
"You bet! Besides, when they get that set up, we'll have an hour lunch." Oliver added.  
"An hour??" Ruki asked, again in surprise.  
"What did you think? We'd eat in fifteen minutes?" Johnny looked at her as if irritated by her presence.  
"Uh well ... that's how it was when I went to school in America .." Ruki blinked.  
"America is a place for poor people to find work so they can at least have a cardboard box over their head." Johnny snorted and took a drink from his Pepsi(™).  
"You do realize America is the wealthiest and most powerful country in the world, don't you?" Oliver pointed out.  
"What're those Yankee morons gonna do? Attack with pitch forks? Please! Europe has the greatest traditional gun militia. You can't fight guns with freakin' pitch forks!" Johnny said, ignorently.  
"Augh, Johnny. You will never learn if you're so arrogant." Oliver sighed.  
"Whatever. I could beat any American with my eyes closed." Johnny went on.  
"Oh really ..." Ruki felt the need to comment.  
"Silly Ruki, leave the Scots to their skirt wearing traditions and we'll see what they think when they find the updrafts they have in America." Kamiko snickered.  
"Hey! They're kilts! Kilts! Not skirts, kilts!"  
"Ohh, whatever. They're all the same to everyone else..." Kamiko sighed in a mocking manner.  
"Geh!!" Johnny growled as the bell rang.  
"Well, lets scatter off to class. Remember room ..." Kamiko pulled out a piece of paper to double check, "Room 127."  
At the end of fourth period, Ruki and Kamiko decided to split from the guys and walked home on their own.  
"So, what did you think of the first day?" Kamiko asked, the wind slightly playing with her skirt from behind.  
"Interesting.." Was the only word Ruki could think to describe it.  
"It was wasn't it? Aren't the guys a riot?" Kamiko giggled, apparently amused.  
"Uh, yeah.. especially Enrique." Ruki teased with a weak chuckle.  
"Enrique's adorable." Kamiko smiled to herself, "I couldn't ever imagine going out with anyone else."  
"Yeah, you two.. really look good together." Ruki agreed.  
"What about you? You probably have a boyfriend back in the US, don't you?" Kamiko looked at her with expectation.  
"What, me?" Ruki laughed, "No. Nobody would wanna go out with me. Not then and not now."  
"Why not?" Kamiko asked, curious to see what her reasoning behind this was.  
"I'm just not the type anybody would want to be with, I guess. Not much to it really." Ruki shrugged it off.  
"Well what makes you think that?" Kamiko eyed her with skepticism.  
"Uh well ....." Ruki tried to come up with something for a moment, "Well.. look at the way Johnny's treating me. You don't think that's unusual for me do you?"  
"You mean it is?"  
"It's not really impor--"  
"Hey you guys! What'd you run away for?"  
Kamiko stopped Ruki as she looked over her shoulder to see Enrique running up to them. "Oliver said we could go ahead without you."  
"Oliver didn't bother asking me." Enrique said as he put his arm over Kamiko's shoulder, "Heya Ruki. What's up?"  
Ruki looked up at the sky, "It's looking pretty clear today.."  
"Huh?" Enrique looked up, "Oh yeah. Right."  
Kamiko snickered.  
The three began to walk again. "So, what were you guys doing while I stayed after class for that paper wod that hit the teacher?" Enrique asked.  
"We've been walking the entire time. That sure was short term." Kamiko looked at him.  
"The teacher said he'd let me off easy since it's the first day. But if it happens tomorrow or anywhere between now and the end of the year, it's four hours of detention." Enrique explained.  
"You better watch yourself then. If you're not around to take me places after school, I might have to dump you for Oliver since he never gets in trouble." Kamiko threatened.  
"What?! You can't be serious!!" Enrique exclaimed, apparently alarmed.  
"I'm just teasing, sheesh. I make one lousy joke and you fly off the handle." Kamiko chuckled. "So, how long is Johnny in for?"  
"Johnny didn't get as lucky as I did." Enrique snickered, "He's already got detention all week."  
Kamiko burst out in laughter, "That's a whole weeks worth of extra ice cream for me!"  
"Hey look, there's Oliver." Enrique pointed.  
Kamiko smacked his hand, "Don't point! It's rude!"  
"I wonder what he's doing over there..." Enrique said, thoughtfully.  
The three walked over to Oliver who was kneeling in front of a rose bush, "Hey Oliver, what're you doing?" Kamiko asked from behind.  
Oliver looked over his shoulder at his friends, "Oh, Mrs. Walkinston asked me to look at this rose bush. She said she thinks it's dying, but it just needs to be trimmed. It's running out of room to grow." Oliver clipped a twig with a rose on the end of it, "There, that outta do it."  
"You're such a goody-goody, Oliver." Kamiko smirked helplessly.  
Oliver stood up, "That outta fix it up real nicely. I'll leave these here for Mrs. Walkinston to pick up." Oliver dropped the trimming equiptment on the ground in front of the bush.  
"Who's Mrs. Walkinston?" Ruki asked Kamiko.  
"The principle. Mr. Goody-Goody Pants here is always helping around." Kamiko answered.  
Oliver turned around, "So, I guess we can go then."  
"Hold up, Romeo. What're you gonna do with that rose?" Kamiko asked, pointing it out.  
Oliver looked down at the red rose he had just clipped, "Oh. I'll give it to Ruki. You can put it in a vase and water when you get back to your room." He said, surrendering it to the shrimp standing next to Enrique.  
"Wow really? Thanks!" Ruki took it from him, her gratefulness apparent in a beaming smile.  
"Isn't that cute." Enrique chuckled, a bit mockingly, "Well, lets go then, Kamiko."  
"Where you going?" Ruki asked, a bit worried to be away from Kamiko.  
"Everyday after school we go for a stroll in the park." Kamiko answered, "Aren't you jealous?" She teased. "You just go back to the room, I'll be back in a while."  
"A while...?" Ruki asked weakly as she watched Kamiko and Enrique walk off.  
"Do you think you can make it back to your room on your own?" Oliver suddenly asked.  
"I don't even know if I have my card on me.." Ruki said, searching any area where a pocket might be.  
"Oh, well that's bad ... How about you stay with me 'til Kamiko gets back then?" Oliver offered.  
Ruki blinked a moment, "Are you sure it's Ok? I don't wanna be a pest or anything..."  
"No, it's Ok. I'm heading back to my room anyway, I can give you a vase to put your flower in too. Wouldn't want it to wilt, would ya?" Oliver added with a smile.  
"Of course not..." Ruki tried to return the smile but found it difficult in this uncomfortable situation.  
"Great, lets go then." Oliver said and began to lead the way.  
Ruki sighed and followed shortly.  
As they walked Ruki stared at her feet, seeing Oliver only enough to be able to see where he was going. Oliver looked over his shoulder at her, "So, what do you think of the school so far?"  
"The school is great. A lot nicer than I could have even imagined." Ruki answered, looking up.  
Oliver stopped so she could catch up, "Well I'm glad you like it. I hope we helped make you more comfortable with your new surroundings."  
Ruki nodded as Oliver walked with her again, "Yeah, you've helped a lot.. thanks a million."  
"Any time, I'm just glad I could help." Oliver smiled and opened the front door for her.  
"Thanks.." Ruki stepped inside and waited for him. "Boy this place is crowded..."  
"Most of the kids just hang out here for a while after school. Everyone else is probably either in their room or outside." Oliver signaled for her to follow as he walked toward the elevator.  
"Just like a normal school..." Ruki said more to herself.  
"Just because this is a private school doesn't mean the kids aren't pretty ordinary." Oliver said as he stepped into the elevator, having heard her anyway. He pressed six on the floor panel as Ruki stepped in.  
"Er, I didn't mean it like that... I was just expecting something else I guess." Ruki frowned.  
  
Oliver smiled, "Don't worry about it, I understand."  
Ruki managed a slight smile, glad he wasn't upset over her stupid comment.  
The elevator didn't stop until it reached the sixth floor. When they stepped out Ruki was surprised to find a single person wandering around the hall. "This floor looks so different when it's empty..." Ruki said, peering down the hall toward her own room.  
"The room is this way." Oliver pointed down the opposite hall and began to walk down it while Ruki followed. Oliver stopped at a door about half way down the hall and slipped his keycard in, then twisted the knob and opened the door, "Come on in."  
Ruki nodded, "Thank you." She walked inside, Oliver closing the door behind himself as he followed. Ruki looked around, the room was decorated quite differently from her own.  
"Johnny'll probably be here after detention." Oliver said as he laid his cardkey on the table.  
"Great..." Ruki muttered sarcastically to herself.  
"Make yourself at home. You can watch some TV if you'd like." Oliver walked into the next room.  
Ruki looked around for the remote and spotted it on the bed that would have been her own if this had been her room. She picked it up and flipped the TV on.  
Oliver called from the other room, "Would you like some tea?"  
Ruki got up and went to the room he was in. It was a small kitchen beyond the dining room, "What kind of tea?"  
"It's just some ice tea. Would you like some?"  
"Yes please."  
Oliver handed her a cup, "There's some sugar in the bedroom if it needs more."  
"Thanks." Ruki nodded and walked back. She took a sip, "Mmm, I love ice tea."  
Oliver followed, "Oh yeah? Enrique and Johnny both don't like it at all and Kamiko doesn't care for it either, but I think it's a perfectly delicate recipe with a complex scent and taste."  
Ruki giggled a bit.  
"Of course, I don't use the tea bags." Oliver bragged a bit.  
Ruki appeared interested, "You don't?"  
"Of course not. I mix all my own herbs to make it. Does it taste like a store brand?"  
Ruki looked at it, "Come to think of it, no."  
Oliver smiled, a bit proudly, "The finest chefs in the world wouldn't even consider using tea bags. It leaves a bitter taste of the bag in it, which also gives it almost a dry feel."  
Ruki blinked, thinking over his statement a second, "You're right. It does." She took another sip. "I guess that leaves only one thing left to say, your ice tea is perfect!"  
Oliver nodded, "Of course it is. I'm not the top chef in France for nothing."  
Ruki chuckled to herself with a grin, amused with how boastful he had suddenly become.  
Oliver sat at the table by the bed Ruki sat at while she switched the channel.  
"Is there anything you wanna watch?" Ruki asked.  
"No, you can watch whatever you want." Oliver answered and took another sip from his tea.  
"Oh, hey, can I have something to put this rose in?" Ruki suddenly said, looking at the rose on her lap.  
"Oh yeah, it's a good thing you reminded me." Oliver left his cup on the table and walked off.  
Ruki continued to channel surf, assuming Oliver had gone to get a vase with water in it. When he returned, he had a shiney, white, porclin vase with a golden rim at the top and flowers painted around the center. Ruki stood up, "What a pretty vase."  
Oliver took the rose from her and put it in the water in the vase, "Yes, it is. I got this from my grandmother. It was a birthday gift. Here you go, you can have it."  
"What? Really?" Ruki asked with surprise, hesitating to take it.  
"Yes, I think you would take good care of it." Oliver said with a nod.  
"Wow... thanks.." Ruki took the vase, then looked up at him, "Are you really sure it's Ok?"  
"I'm positive." Oliver smiled. "You can put it on the dresser until you leave. It should be safer there than on the table."  
Ruki nodded, "Ok.." She walked to the dresser and carefully put the vase down on the bare, wooden surface.  
At that moment there was a knock on the door. Oliver got up and opened it, "Johnny, you're finally out of detention, huh?"  
"Yeah yeah." Johnny walked in, "Where's Enrique?"  
"He and Kamiko went for a walk, as usual." Oliver said and shut the door.  
"Pfft, go figure." Johnny looked at the TV, "Who's watching this?"  
Ruki stepped up, "I am."  
"What's she doing here?" Johnny turned to Oliver for an answer.  
"She didn't have her card key with her, so I invited her to stay with me until Kamiko and Enrique came back." Oliver explained to Johnny.  
Johnny laughed, "What a ditz! You forgot your card?! Man, that's rich." Johnny put up his hands to count on his fingers, "You're a peasant girl in a wealthy school, you don't eat breakfast or lunch, you're terrified of any kind of bug, you're anti-social AND you don't remember to bring your cardkey when leaving your room. What are you, just stupid?"  
Ruki's face turned dark, "You know what?! Even if I was considered stupid I'm still a whole lot nicer than you, you big jerk! All you do is pick on people who try not to hurt anybody's feelings, but you wouldn't even know how to do that! I might not have as much of money as you do but I have enough kindness to make up twice as much! And have you ever considered maybe I prefer to have a little to eat here and there rather than three large meals in one day? Or maybe because I'm 'anti-social' I don't find it easy to eat in front of others?! Especially jerks like you who can only point out all the easiest things to make make fun of in people, who's constently judging people. AND I DIDN'T FORGET MY CARDKEY EITHER!! I saw you take it and put it in the garbage can in the hallway! And you know what else? I'm sick of listening to you, so either you straighten up or you'll regret ever having said a single word to me. Got all that?!"  
Oliver and Johnny blinked, shocked by this sudden outburst.  
"Oh and one last thing Johnny..." Ruki took her cup of tea and threw it at him, spilling its contents all over his clothes, but the cup rolled on the floor, unharmed.  
"AAHH!! MY FAVORITE SHIRT!!" Johnny exclaimed, looking at the mess on himself.  
Ruki heaved a sigh, turned around and left the room, closing the door with a slam.  
"Aahhh!! That's just great..." Johnny growled, looking at his stained shirt.  
"Oh my.." Oliver ran off and came back with a towel for Johnny, "I'll be right back." Oliver rushed out the door and looked to the left down the hall; no one. He looked to the right and saw Ruki walking away. "Ruki, wait!" Oliver ran after her and walked next to her, "Ruki are you Ok?"  
Ruki didn't reply, only looking away to hide her tear stained face.  
"Ruki...?"  
She suddenly stopped and covered her face with both hands, unable to hold back her sobs.  
Oliver put his arm over her to comfort her, "I'm sorry, Ruki..."  
Ruki remained silent, save for the cries she was unable to hold back. She stood there a moment, trying to control herself, and managed to speak again, "I shouldn't have said those things..."  
"It's Ok, if you hadn't have stood up for yourself, Johnny wouldn't have stopped. I don't think he'll be bothering you again." Oliver answered.  
Ruki shook her head, "No it wasn't right... I should've kept myself under control."  
"You held out longer than most." Oliver admitted. He pulled her hand away from her face, "Why don't you come back with me to the room and wash your face, huh?"  
"I can't ever face him again... Johnny is the most heartless and mean person I have ever met.." Ruki wiped away a tear from her face with her other hand.  
"Listen to me, Ruki, I'm sure Johnny won't bother you anymore. You scared him half to death."  
"No, I just... I wanna go home." Ruki sank to the ground, sitting on her legs.  
Oliver knelt next to her, "Don't say that. We'd all miss you if you left! And who would sit with me up front in class?"  
Ruki sniffled and looked down, "I don't know ...."  
"See? You don't wanna leave. You'll be fine, you just need to rest for a while, alright?" Oliver turned Ruki's face to his own, "Alright?"  
Ruki was silent a moment before replying, "Yeah.. Ok..."  
Oliver pulled Ruki up with him as he stood, "Now, lets go get your face washed off." Ruki nodded with another sniff as Oliver walked her back to the room.  
Johnny was busy lounging around on the bed, watching TV too occupied to notice Ruki had been crying, "It's about time. I thought you'd both run away or something!"  
Oliver whispered to Ruki which way the bathroom was and where the washclothes were, then sent her off and turned back to Johnny, "So, did you get your shirt dried off?"  
Johnny sat up, "Does it look like it?"  
Oliver couldn't help but grin, "Here, how about you take it off and I'll put it up to dry."  
Johnny pulled his wet shirt over his head and handed it to Oliver in a crumple.  
"Too bad this tea stains..." Oliver sighed as he walked out of the room.  
"Yeah, too bad, no more tea making for you." Johnny snorted.  
Ruki stepped out of the bathroom just in time to meet Oliver coming over, "Oh no..." She took the shirt from Oliver and looked at it, "Look at his shirt! I totally ruined it! Oh this is terrible..."  
"Don't worry about it, Johnny has plenty of other shirts." Oliver replied.  
"No, I feel terrible!" Ruki gave it back to Oliver and ran past him, stopping in the living room to remember which way to the bedroom. She ran through the doorway into the bedroom and saw Johnny laying there, focused on the TV. "Johnny, I'm really sorry, I didn't mean to ruin your shirt! You don't know how utterly wretched I feel."  
Johnny raised an eyebrow at her.  
"Please tell me what I can do to make it up to you..." Ruki pleaded.  
Johnny sat up, "What?! You mean to tell me you throw your cup at me and spill tea all over my shirt and then leave with a fit, and now you wanna make it up to me?!"  
Ruki ran over to him and sat on her heels in front of him, her hands clasped together, "I didn't mean to go off like that on you. I'm really very sorry, won't you please forgive me?"  
Johnny stared at her for a second with a solemn expression, then suddenly burst out laughing.  
"Huh...?"  
"You're too much!" He laughed.  
Ruki blinked, cluelessly.  
"Well now.." Johnny crossed his arms over his bare chest and peered at her, thoughtfully, "I'm sure there's something you can do for me."  
Ruki waited for him to come up with something.  
"Lets see. First off, get off your knees, you look like you're begging." Johnny ordered.  
Ruki stood up.  
"I'm sure we can come up with something like civilized people." Johnny raised an eyebrow with amusement.  
Ruki raised both eyebrows, waiting for the worst.  
Johnny rubbed his chin, "How about... you can be my personal maid."  
"Personal... maid?"  
"You heard me.... I get tired of doing everything myself anyway." Johnny replied.  
"Uh.. I don't mean to ... bug but.. that's a little much don't you think...? I mean.. I was thinking... I'd buy you a new shirt or something ...?" Ruki explained, nervously.  
"Huh?" Johnny looked at her, his grin fading, "What are you putting a limit of what I can ask now?"  
"No it's just ..." Ruki rolled her eyes, trying to think of the right words.  
Johnny chuckled, mischieviously, "You got yourself into this mess but I'm not gonna let you out of it."  
"Johnny, how could you be so heartless?" Ruki sighed, hopelessly.  
"Heartless? You're such a wreck, you can't take care of yourself at all! If it wasn't for Kamiko you probably wouldn't have even found your room!" Johnny said, somewhat irritated.  
"Ah ..." Ruki scratched her head, blushing from embarressment, "Well.. I guess you're right about that much..."  
"Of course I'm right! You're such a wimp, how can you expect to not be picked on if you're so easy to push around?" Johnny said as a matter of factly.  
Ruki looked away, "I... don't know I.. guess...."  
"You're truly pathetic you know that?" Johnny laid back down on the bed.  
"Yeah ... I know." Ruki dragged herself back into the dining room and sat at the table in silence.  
Oliver walked out of the bathroom after having called somebody to pick up the dirty shirt. "Now that that's taken care of... Ruki? Why're you sitting here?"  
Ruki didn't reply.  
Oliver walked over to her, leaning to look at her, "Are you Ok?"  
"I just wanna be alone for a while..." Ruki sighed.  
Oliver's expression turned somewhat sad, "Oh.. Ok..." He left the room and went into the bedroom, leaving Ruki alone as she had wished.  
"What's up?" Johnny looked at Oliver from the corner of his eye.  
"I called the washing service. They said they're coming by to get your shirt." Oliver explained.  
"Not that that'll help much." Johnny sighed, exasperated.  
"Well, guess we'll see." Oliver shrugged.  
"If you hadn't let that stupid girl in here this wouldn't have even happened." Johnny snorted.  
"She said she was sorry..." Oliver said as he sat down.  
"Sorry isn't getting that stain out of my shirt." Johnny sternly answered.  
"Maybe not but... maybe you should be a little nicer to her. Your being mean was what made her throw her tea on you in the first place." Oliver reminded him, staying calm.  
"Pfft, she shouldn't be here anyway. This is a school for well-off kids, not slum dwellers!" Johnny hissed.  
Oliver sighed, hopelessly.  
There was a knock at the door.  
"I'm coming!" Oliver shouted and got up. He opened the door to find Enrique and Kamiko standing there.  
"Hey!" Kamiko said and walked in, "What's up?--Where's Ruki?" She looked around, not seeing her anywhere.  
"In the other room..." Oliver answered, closing the door as Enrique walked in.  
"Hey Tarzan, what're you doing with your shirt off?" Enrique raised an eyebrow, studying Johnny over.  
"Penny over there threw tea all over me." Johnny snorted.  
Kamiko stomped into the room, "JOHNNY YA BIG JERK!!"  
"What did I do now?!" Johnny asked, sitting up.  
"I think we need to have a little talk about attitude! Maybe if you'd give 'Penny' a chance you might find that you might actually would like her!"  
"Me like her? Not in this life time!" Johnny retorted.  
"I'm serious, Johnathan, if you do one more thing to hurt Ruki I'll be telling the principle. And you know he is tight with my family! He'll kick you out in the snap of a finger, and you know what that means don't you?" Kamiko threatened.  
"Gosh dang, what the heck're you pickin' on me for?"  
"The same reason you're picking on Ruki! Now stop and be nice!" Kamiko growled.  
"FINE. Geez!" Johnny snorted and crossed his arms.  
"Go and apologize now."  
"What?! She's the one who threw hot tea on me!"  
Kamiko gave him a death glare and replied through gritted teeth, "I said apologize now."  
Johnny growled and got up, walking out of the room.  
"Uh hey wait, you might want a shirt." Enrique shouted after him as he dug through a drawer and tossed him a shirt.  
Johnny turned around, "What?" but his inquirements was muffled as the shirt landed in his face. He pulled it off from around his neck and put it on then went in the direction of where Ruki awaited in the other room. He mumbled to himself, peeved at his compulsory assignment. Peeking around the corner, he gathered himself up with another livid snort and wandered into the dining room.  
Ruki was sitting at the table with her head down and buried in her arms. Johnny pondered a moment how he would put this without losing his dignity and pride that he worked so hard to protect, but seemed to be watching it crumble before him anyway. He muttered one last curse at Kamiko and sauntered over to Ruki.  
"Hey Penny." Johnny said from behind her, his hands buried in his pockets and his shoulders slightly slumped.  
Ruki didn't raise her head, "What... do you want..."  
Johnny scowled, "Well ya could have the decency to look at me!"  
"...Why should I?.. So you can belittle me somemore? Oh sure, sounds like a great idea to me!"  
Johnny rolled his eyes to the corner, "Of all times you have to be difficult now?"  
Ruki suddenly lifted her head and turned around to look directly at him, "Now?! I have never been difficult until now. You know what? You're the one who's been difficult all the time. So you know what? Yes, I'm going to be difficult now." She turned back around into her previous position.  
"Good grief! You're such a ..." Johnny growled and clenched his teeth in frustration, "brat!"  
"Thanks for your opinion but you might as well tell it to the wall." Ruki said in a muffle tone.  
"Hmph, fine!" Johnny turned around and walked back to the bedroom, more angry now than before he left.  
"Did you apologize?" Kamiko asked expectantly.  
Johnny dropped in a chair, "No."  
"And why not?" Kamiko inquired, still irked.  
"She wouldn't let me!" Johnny defended.  
"How can she not let you? Now get back in there and don't come out until you've apologized!" Kamiko ordered.  
Johnny leaped to his feet in protest, "Why do I have to listen to you, Miss High and Mighty?"  
"Because I still have your priceless CD, now get going!" Kamiko pointed toward the dining room.  
"I hate you." Johnny mumbled and went back. Instead of going to the dining room, however, he dropped in another seat around the corner, not caring whether he ever left or not.  
Kamiko sighed, hopelessly, "He's so stubborn. It really gets under my skin."  
"It's just like Johnny not to apologize." Oliver reminded her, "Even if he knows he's wrong."  
"Well he's gonna have to grow up and learn how to apologize because three out of four times he is wrong." Kamiko declared.  
Johnny rolled his eyes at Kamiko's comment as he continued to evesdrop on the conversation.  
"Yeah well, he'll learn eventually ... hopefully anyway." Enrique added.  
Johnny crossed his arms and grunted, "Yeah right."  
"Johnny?"  
Johnny looked up to see Ruki standing before him.  
"I'm ready to make a treaty." She said.  
"A treaty?" Johnny raised an eyebrow, "I said nothing about a treaty."  
"No matter, I'm ready to make one anyway. I'll stay out of your way as long as you leave me alone."  
Johnny stood up, "That's not the problem."  
"Then what is ...." She looked up at him, not realizing he was several inches taller, "uh .. the problem?"  
"Just you being around in general is the problem!" He replied, impatiently.  
"Well what am I supposed to do then?"  
"Leave!"  
Ruki looked down and paused for a moment, "...I can't leave. My parents worked too hard to be able to send me here for me to just get up and leave." She looked back at him, "I'm sorry, Mr. MacGregor but I can't do that."  
"What?"  
"You'll have to find a different way to deal with it." Ruki pushed passed him and walked into the bedroom.  
"Ruki? Are you O---..." Kamiko watched Ruki walk right out the door before finishing, "k...?" She quickly persued Ruki out the door. "Ruki! What're you doing, what's wrong?"  
"Nothing I just wanna go to our room please."  
"Speaking of which, I thought you were going to our room in the first place?" Kamiko wondered.  
"I... misplaced my cardkey. I'm sorry." Ruki sighed.  
"Ah don't worry about it, we'll have Gustav get you a new one." Kamiko assured her, still struggling to keep up. "Slow down, girl!"  
Ruki suddenly stopped and turned to her.  
"Why're you stopping?" Kamiko raised an eyebrow.  
"Sorry. I don't know where I'm going." Ruki laughed at herself.  
Kamiko burst out into laughter, "You're too much Ruki. Lets go." She led the way back to the room.  
"Uh what was that all about?" Enrique looked at Johnny.  
"Pfft. Treaty. I'll give her a treaty soon as I get her kicked out." Johnny grumbled.  
Enrique blinked, "What do you have against Ruki so much? What'd she do to you?"  
"Of course you wouldn't understand! You're the worst player I've ever seen!" Johnny accused.  
"Hey guys, no need to get violent." Oliver interjected.  
"No need to take out your anger on your pals, Johnny!" Enrique replied, upset.  
"Whatever, I'm going back to my room." Johnny said as he left.  
Enrique and Oliver exchanged clueless expressions, both wondering what Johnny was so wound up about. 


	3. This cant be happening!

The next morning, Tuesday, breakfast was served at normal time. Kamiko grabbed her usual Cheerios(™) drown in milk and ate it rather quickly and anxiously, though nobody seemed to notice. After breakfast, "Enrique? I need to tell you something."  
"Oh man, not this early in the morning." Johnny moaned, rubbing his forehead.  
"Shut up!" Kamiko ordered, abnormally irritable.  
"What is it?" Enrique asked, sweetly.  
"We... have a problem." Kamiko sighed.  
"What?" Enrique paused for his answer.  
"I... have... to... dump you." Kamiko winced.  
Enrique's face turned pale, "Wh...what..?"  
"I met somebody else and I just don't think it'll work out. Sorry. Bye." Kamiko quickly got up with her things and ran off.  
Ruki blinked, "Uh wait!" She stumbled from her place, having nothing to take with her, and following after Kamiko.  
Enrique sat in silence and disbelief at this abrupt outburst.  
  
Meanwhile Kamiko rushed toward the school building, Ruki struggling to catch up, "Kamiko! Wait!!"  
Kamiko sat on the bricks outlining a garden with her face in her hands.  
Ruki stopped in front of her, panting, "What's... wrong?" She inquired inbetween breaths.  
"I can't go out with Enrique anymore." Kamiko sobbed.  
Ruki rolled her eyes up, "Well yeah we all know that now... But why?"  
"I... don't know... The feeling... it's gone." Kamiko removed her hands and looked at Ruki.  
Ruki tilted her head oddly, "The what?"  
Kamiko stood up and wiped her face, "You know... the feeling when you like somebody.. when you love somebody..."  
"It's gone..." Ruki blinked.  
Kamiko nodded and sniffed.  
  
Ruki looked down, not sure what to say.  
"It's for somebody else now..." Kamiko confessed, her voice even again.  
Ruki looked up at her, "Somebody... else?"  
Kamiko nodded, "Yes. I can't help it..."  
Ruki stood up straight, "Then who?"  
Kamiko looked around uneasily, checking the scenery for any evesdroppers then got closer to Ruki's face, "Johnny."  
Ruki raised an eyebrow, "What about Johnny?"  
Kamiko repeated herself with a bit of a sigh, "I like... Johnny." She managed once again.  
Ruki blinked and paused a moment, "Uh... you... wanna run that by me again?"  
Kamiko sighed once more, "I like Johnny." She looked down as if ashamed.  
Ruki's eyes shifted around, unable to find the words to say.  
  
"I know it seems irrational... But it's .. true." Kamiko confirmed.  
  
She looked over her shoulder a saw Oliver trying to comfort Enrique as they walked toward the school building and Johnny tagging along behind them, his hands in his pockets as usual but he was quiet for a change. "Speak of the devil ..."  
Kamiko looked up and noticed them as well. The three boys exchanged their gazes with the girls in the distant, but didn't make an attempt to approach them and were on their way again soon. The bell then rang, calling all students to the school building and to their classroom.  
  
That day Kamiko shared the front row with Ruki, feeling awkward to sit in the back with the guys. She wrote notes attempting to explain the situation to Enrique, but trashed every one of them, finding them not good enough. Her attention to classwork was less than usual today and Ruki had no doubt noticed her friend was severaly troubled.  
At the end of the day, Ruki and Kamiko walked back to the boarding house together. Ruki gave her a few pats on the back, "Did you write that note?"  
"I must've written hundreds... but none of them explained well enough what went wrong." Kamiko put her hand to her head as if it hurt. "Why does this have to be so complicated?"  
"Why does she have to be so complicated?" Enrique sighed as he sat at the table with Oliver and a snack before him.  
Johnny looked from the TV over to Enrique, "Hey, you knew it was bound to happen. You never were good with keeping women anyway."  
Oliver looked sternly at Johnny, "You're not helping any Johnny!"  
"Hey, I'm just telling the truth." Johnny shrugged. "Maybe you should find another bimbo like you used to have back in Italy. What were their names? Bosetta and Rianco or something?"  
Enrique's face turned sour, "Rosetta and Bianca."  
"Ah, that's right." Johnny smirked, showing no sign of sympathy for his friend.  
"Enrique, what you need is someone who's sweet and caring, but someone loyal and truth worthy too. Not someone so wild, someone calm but conversational and active." Oliver said as he looked back at Enrique.  
"Tch, I'm not gonna find anyone like that." Enrique replied, somewhat bitterly as he played with the food on his plate.  
"Why not look outside the school?" Oliver suggested.  
"Or why not stop looking all together?" Johnny added.  
  
"Johnny, can't you be atleast a little supportive right now?" Oliver snapped.  
"Why should I? He got what he deserved." Johnny smirked, matter of factly.  
"What did he do to deserve this?" Oliver demanded.  
Johnny rolled his eyes, "Cheaters never prosper? Is that a-ringin' a bell?" He yawned after he had finished and a silence covered the room.  
Enrique blinked then suddenly stood up, slamming his hands on the table, "CHEATER?! I NEVER CHEATED ON ANYBODY!!!"  
"Ah, whatever. I saw you talking with that stupid blonde the other day." Johnny said calmly.  
"For YOUR information MISTER!! She wanted to talk to me about YOU." Enrique growled.  
"Hmm, about me, eh?" Johnny said without interest.  
Enrique crossed his arms and peered at him from the corner of his eyes, "Yeah.. she said something about... being interested in going with you to the dance next month."  
Johnny's eyes rolled over to Enrique, he was silent for a moment, then finally replied, "Oh really..."  
Enrique looked up at the ceiling, "Yeah but of course you wouldn't care about that. I'm cheating with her, remember?"  
Johnny scrambled to a sit on the bed, "I NEVER SAID THAT!!" He objected.  
"AH YEAH YOU DID!!" Enrique yelled back at him.  
"You guys, CHILL OUT!!" Oliver interrupted. "I hate to interrupt this argument but we still have to find out what happened to Kamiko and Ruki you know!"  
Johnny looked in another direction, "Who cares what happened to them? Ruki was getting on my nerves anyway."  
Enrique put his fist up, "I'd much sooner kick you out of our group before I kick her out you big whiney baby!"  
Johnny's face turned red with anger as he shot back, "WHINEY BABY!? YOU'RE THE ONE WHO WAS MOPING ALL DAY CAUSE YOU'RE GIRLFRIEND DUMPED YOU!!"  
  
"YEAH?! Well atleast unlike YOU I've atleast HAD a girlfriend!" Enrique snarled.  
"Yeah and they ALL DUMPED you!!"  
"You haven't had any TO dump you!" Johnny and Enrique goin at it.  
"Because I haven't even WANTED one!"  
"You're the worst liar I've ever met!!"  
"You're the biggest whiney I've ever met!"  
"That's funny cause I'm probably the only person you've ever met ANYWAY!!"  
"ARE YOU CALLING ME GAY?!"  
"YOU PROBABLY ARE!!"  
"YOU GUYS!!!" Oliver screamed at them.  
Enrique and Johnny didn't say another word, but glared at eachother growling as if ready to tackle on another to the ground and exchange flying fists.  
"We have to find Kamiko and Ruki! Whether or not she broke up with Enrique, she's still our friend!" Oliver sighed, exhausted from watching the two go like that, "Now, we're gonna walk up to their room and talk this out like civilized people."  
"Not that Enrique would know anything about being civilized." Johnny crossed his arms.  
"WHY YOU..." Suddenly an almost visible light bulb appeared over Enrique's head, "Hm. Is that so. Well then.. I have a challenge for you Mr. I'm So Civil." Enrique had his arms crossed now, knowing Johnny could never refuse a challenge.  
Johnny glanced at him skeptically, "A challenge eh?"  
"I'd like to see you get a girlfriend just to see whether it's true that you can if you want." Enrique smirked.  
Johnny glowered at him, but his frown soon became a smirk, "By next week. Whoever has a girlfriend first is the better man, eh?"  
Enrique nodded, "Fine!"  
Johnny grinned widely, "Tch, fine."  
Oliver smacked his forehead with his hand, knowing it was useless to try and talk sense into them.  
Kamiko closed the door as Ruki walked into their room, "It's nice to be back in here. I feel like its been forever since I last laid on my bed." Ruki let herself drop onto the mattress, leaving prints in the formely perfectly made bed.  
Kamiko wandered over to her own bed and sat down, facing Ruki, "Ruki ... you have to help me."  
Ruki eyed Kamiko from where she lay, "Help you? ...With what?"  
"Getting.... well... Johnny to like me." Kamiko chuckled, a bit embarrassed.  
Ruki blinked, "Well I--" She was interrupted by a knock on the door.  
Kamiko looked at the door. It was silent until there was another knock. "I wonder.. who could that be?" Kamiko looked at Ruki who shrugged, then got to her feet and walked to the door. She slowly opened it.  
"Hi!" Oliver smiled, Enrique and Johnny behind him.  
Kamiko quickly shut the door, her eyes wide with fear.  
Ruki sat up, "Who was that?"  
Kamiko looked at Ruki but didn't answer and ran to the other room.  
Ruki raised an eyebrow and forced herself off the bed and opened the door.  
"Uh, hi." Oliver blinked.  
A massive sweatdrop slid down Ruki's face as she became nervous for Kamiko's sake, "Oh uh... Hey, how are ya?"  
"We just came by to--"  
"Chat! We wanna chat!" Enrique finished as he pushed past Oliver and Ruki and into the room.  
"Ch-chat??" Ruki repeated almost with fright as Oliver strolled in, Johnny following behind.  
"Of course!" Enrique dropped on Ruki's bed. ::  
Ruki nearly panicked, "Uh.. uh well since you're here, how about I go get some drinks for you? Just stay right here!" Ruki rushed off.  
Enrique looked at Johnny, who sat unamused at the small table for two across from Oliver.  
Kamiko approached the hurrying Ruki, "Are they gone?"  
"No--"  
"YOU LET THEM IN?!"  
"No I didn't let them in, they just sort've... Enrique let himself in and the others just followed.." Ruki corrected.  
"Oh great! Crap... Johnny is here too! This is horrible! ....No.. wait!" Kamiko suddenly turned back to Ruki.  
Ruki study innocently clueless.  
"You... heheh... you..." Kamiko chuckled evilly.  
Ruki took a few steps back, frightened, "Uh...?"  
"YOU!"  
Ruki jumped, "Me??"  
"You can be a distraction for Enrique!"  
"Huh??"  
"If Enrique finds somebody else, everything will be better and I'll be able to get Johnny." Kamiko smirked to herself, "It's perfect."  
"Wha-what?? Me??"  
Kamiko glared at her, "You're the only one around."  
"But why??"  
Kamiko's glare turned colder, "Because you're small and insignificant and because I'll pummel you if you don't!"  
Ruki blinked, "...Why else?"  
"NOW! RUKI!!"  
"AHH! Ok Ok!" Ruki ran off the retrieve the drinks she had promised.  
Kamiko turned around and rubbed her hands together, "Better watch out, Johnny-boy, cause I'm coming to get you..."  
Ruki sighed as she fixed the drinks, "Tea for Oliver, Mountain Dew for Johnny and Dr. Pepper for Enrique... what a crew." She came back into the room with a tray and offered the first drink to Enrique.  
"Thank you, you're too kind." Enrique said as he took the glass off the tray.  
Ruki went over to Johnny and Oliver, offering the last two drinks.  
"Many thanks, Ruki." Oliver smiled as he took the tea cup.  
"I just made it this morning, I tried the recipe you gave me. I hope it tastes alright."  
Johnny grabbed his drink, "Probably tastes worse than store tea!"  
Ruki blinked, not sure how to react.  
"Johnny, you're never gonna win that way." Enrique reminded him.  
Ruki looked at Enrique, "What're you talking about?"  
Enrique sat up, setting his glass on the nightstand and motioned Ruki to come over and explained quietly, "I challenged Johnny to get a girl by next week, but he's never gonna make it. I just know it."  
"You left out one last detail, Enrique or have you forgotten you're in for one too?" Johnny sneered, obviously having heard.  
Enrique frowned, "Yeah yeah, I haven't forgotten."  
  
Ruki stood up straight again, "I see. Well give me a second, I'm gonna put this back in the kitchen." She walked off somewhat in a hurry, replacing the tray where it had been and going over to Kamiko, "Kamiko!!"  
Kamiko quickly twisted around, "What?"  
"He's looking!"  
"Huh? Who? For what?" Kamiko appeared confused.  
"Enrique challenged Johnny to get a girlfriend before next week!" Ruki explained.  
Kamiko's face brightened, "Is that so? ...And Johnny didn't return a challenge?"  
Ruki blinked, "Uhm.. well.... yeah, Enrique has the same challenge but--"  
"That's perfect! You're more eligible than anyone else! And if Johnny needs a girlfriend he'll settle for who's easiest to get!" Kamiko exclaimed.  
"Hey now I don't like--" Ruki watched Kamiko skip off to the other room, "..that...idea.." Ruki frowned.  
Kamiko came into the room and stopped suddenly, having grabbed everyone's attention from the room. Ruki walked up behind her, looking over her shoulder.  
"Well well, where've you been hiding?" Enrique asked, somewhat fliratiously.  
Kamiko looked at Ruki, "You help me out this one time and I'll be indebted to you for life."  
Ruki sighed, feeling obligated to help her friend, "Yeah Ok..."  
Kamiko turned to her friends and walked into the room, "Hey guys, what's up?"  
Oliver blinked, "Nothing, we just... came to see how you were doing. You seemed sort've upset earlier."  
"Ah naw, I'm fine. Just needed some time to myself to think, yannow?" Kamiko replied.  
  
Enrique studied Kamiko, seeing she was not the least bit upset anymore and suddenly missed getting her attention all the time. "So Kamiko, um.. if you don't mind me asking... What.. went wrong?"  
Kamiko turned around and saw Ruki still standing there and waved her away, then looked at Enrique with a sigh, "My friend... I'm really sorry but, you see.. Things seemed rough and then my friend... she.." Kamiko rolled her eyes, trying to make it seem like it was complicated, "Let me just lay it out for you: she likes you Ok?"  
Ruki was against the wall just outside of the doorframe and hit herself in the head.  
Enrique raised an eyebrow, "What?"  
Johnny's face turned bitter, seeing as he had the upper hand now in their little bet.  
"So we had to break up?" Enrique asked, sadly.  
"Like I said, things were rough between us..." Kamiko repeated, "And it's just better this way."  
Enrique's shoulders dropped, not fully understanding what exactly it was she was saying.  
"Anyway, you guys got anything planned? I was thinking maybe tomorrow after school we could go mini-golfing."  
"That sounds like fun!" Oliver smiled.  
"Yeah, so you guys in?" Kamiko eyed Johnny specifically, trying to throw hints of interest.  
"Pfft, mini-golfing?!" Johnny crossed his arms.  
"Yes, Johnny, mini-golfing." Kamiko smiled and spoke flirtatiously to him, batting her eyelashes.  
Johnny raised an eyebrow, catching a hint, then looked at Enrique who seemed to grow more angry once he had caught his eye, "Yeah. Mini-golfing sounds fun." Johnny looked back at Kamiko, pleased with his sudden progress.  
"Great!" Kamiko cheered as Ruki came in and stood next to her. She looked down at her friend, "We're going mini-golfing tomorrow after school, Ruki."  
Ruki blinked, "Oh.. woo..hoo..."  
Kamiko's face turned grave and she elbowed Ruki in the side.  
"OW!! Oh I mean YEAH!! Great! Finally!" Ruki rolled her eyes.  
Oliver stood, "So mini-golfing it is then. How great." He smiled, seeming very happy.  
"Yeah, it'll be just like old times." Kamiko pulled Ruki over and said just loud enough for the others to hear, "And you'll get to spend some quality time with the man of your dreams."  
Ruki blushed and looked at her, embarrassed, "Oh goody..."  
Enrique stood in a thinking position, pondering over his current choices, "Win Ruki over and at least not lose... or find somebody else more suited for me..."  
"Hey Romeo, it's time to go!" Johnny hollard from the doorway.  
Enrique looked up, "Yeah yeah I'm coming." He walked past Ruki and Kamiko and waved to them, "See you at dinner." With that he was out of site, having followed Johnny down the hall.  
Kamiko skipped to the door and shut it, "THANK YOU SO MUCH RUKI!! Johnny will be mine before next week." She felt a tingle of excitement go through her bones.  
"Was it Ok to lie to Enrique like that though?" Ruki frowned.  
Kamiko blinked a moment as if thinking it over, "Mmm.. yeah! Besides, you'll learn to like him I'm sure."  
"I do like him but--"  
Kamiko gasped, "You do?!"  
"Only as a friend!"  
  
Kamiko laughed, "You're bad at covering things up once they're figured out."  
"No, you don't get it--"  
"I'd have to be pretty gullible to go for that." Kamiko laughed as she walked into the kitchen area.  
Ruki hit her forehead again with the heel of her hand.  
That evening before dinner, Johnny approached Enrique with his usual cocky smile, "Seems I have my work cut out for me."  
Enrique glared at him, "Appears so..."  
"I'll work my charm this evening and have her by Thursday." Johnny replied, confidentally.  
Enrique's glare narrowed.  
"Looks like you've already losed, Enrique-poo." Johnny snickered and went out the door to go to the cafeteria.  
Oliver walked over to Enrique, "Are you coming?"  
Enrique stood up, "Yeah I'm coming. It's time to play fire with fire, and Johnny's about to get burnt." The flames of rage could be see flaring in Enrique's eyes as he stood there, then followed Johnny out the door.  
Oliver blinked, surprised at how serious this competition has become.  
Downstairs in the cafeteria, Kamiko and Ruki were already looking at the nights menu.  
"Coldslaw? Who eats that?" Kamiko shuddered.  
Ruki chuckled at Kamiko, "That's like saying who eats pizza."  
"Least pizza tastes good." Kamiko mumbled, "There's nothing good to eat on this stupid menu!"  
"Calm down Kamiko, there's plenty good to eat here, see here's--" Ruki suddenly stopped.  
Kamiko looked up to see what had grabbed her attention, "Oh oh, here come the guys!" She quickly straightened her posture.  
Ruki watched Kamiko reparing, thinking it seemed almost ridiculous.  
"Good evening, ladies."  
Ruki looked over and up at Enrique who had just greeted them.  
"I'm so glad to see you came so soon." Kamiko said, her eyes on Johnny.  
Ruki glanced over at Kamiko, and watched as Johnny sat down next to her, "Didn't wanna miss any time I could spend with you, ya know." Johnny winked.  
Ruki noticed Kamiko got very excited about this and even more flirtatious. She rubbed her forehead, "Find anything yet, Kamiko?"  
"Uh hmm? What?" Kamiko looked at Ruki, not having paid any attention.  
"Food. We're here to... eat." Ruki pretended to spoon something into her mouth.  
"Oh yeah. Right. Food." Kamiko picked her menu back up and skimmed it over a moment, then looked at Johnny again who seemed to be intently finding something that suited his taste.  
Ruki watched for a moment then looked at Enrique who was standing and watching as well, "Hey Enrique, you wanna sit down?" She slightly smiled.  
Enrique continued to watch, paying close attention as he took a seat between Ruki and Oliver.  
Ruki frowned and looked at Kamiko, who was flirting probably more than she realized with Johnny who seemed to actually enjoy it. Her gaze went back to Enrique, who seemed both angered by this and saddened at the same time. Ruki dropped her shoulders as well as her eyes, which landed back on the page of her menu. Which landed back on the page of her menu. Ignoring the outside noises of everyone else, she finally decided on what to eat then looked at Kamiko and Johnny, "So have we decided what we're gonna have?"  
Kamiko bounced a bit in her seat, "Me and Johnny are gonna have some of the chicken!"  
Ruki looked at Oliver and Enrique for an answer.  
"Ready to order when you are." Oliver nodded.  
Ruki looked at Enrique specifically, who was staring hard onto the menu but didn't seem to be really reading it. Ruki moved, trying to get into his view a little, "Enrique...?"  
Enrique suddenly looked up as if startled, "Hm? What?" He looked at Ruki.  
Ruki raised both eyebrows, "Are you ready to order ...?"  
"Oh yeah. Yeah I'm ready." Enrique nodded, surely.  
Johnny grinned and did the honors of ringing the bell in the center of the table. A waiter reported to their table immidiately and Johnny was the first to speak, "We're having the chicken. She and I." Johnny gestured at Kamiko.  
The waiter nodded and looked at Oliver.  
"I'd like your dinner omelette, please." Oliver said politely.  
The waiter nodded again, a sign that he had gotten what was said. He skipped Enrique, who stared at his menu, thinking he hadn't made up his mind yet and looked at Ruki.  
"I'd like the rice with the mash potatoes, please." Ruki smiled as best she could manage.  
The waiter bobbed his head again and looked at Enrique, who hadn't noticed.  
Ruki looked at Enrique, "Psst. Enrique. You're on."  
Enrique slowly looked at Ruki, then slowly turned to the waiter, "I'll have the dinner omelette to go."  
"To go? You're not staying with us?" Oliver inquired.  
"No I need to go up to my room." Enrique said as he lay the menu down and the waiter left to retrieve the orders.  
"Are you Ok? Should I come with you?" Oliver asked, worriedly.  
"No. No, no, I'm fine." Enrique assured him.  
"Should I come with you then?" Ruki asked, gaining Enrique's attention, well aware he needed company and couldn't turn down a girl's offer no matter who she was.  
Enrique looked uneasy and unwilling, "If you really want I guess." He finally said.  
Ruki smiled, pleased, "Great."  
Kamiko caught Ruki's attention and gave her a thumbs up with a sneaky smirk.  
Ruki glared at her and waved her cruel gesture away.  
When the waiter returned he gave Enrique his food to go, "Thank you, sir."  
"Oh please make mine to go too." Ruki said before the waiter left.  
"Very well, miss." Was his reply before he bowed and went on his way once more.  
Ruki sat patiently, watching the others while Enrique fidgetted as he stood behind his seat.  
"Oh Johnny, you're just the cutest thing!" Kamiko giggled, clinging to his arm.  
Johnny eyed Enrique, knowing this bugged him, "I know."  
Enrique narrowed his view but only turned away. The waiter soon arrived and handed Ruki her food.  
"Thank you very much." Ruki said as she took it and stood up, letting her seat slide out behind her.  
"You two love birds have fun now, ya hear?" Kamiko winked at Ruki.  
Ruki's friendly smile soon turned into a deadly stare, which only made Kamiko snicker with delight.  
"Alright, let's go Ruki." Enrique said and began to leave.  
Ruki pushed her seat in and ran to catch up with him, "Are you sure you're Ok?"  
Enrique stopped, suddenly having an idea. He turned around to face Ruki and looked past her to see if Kamiko was still watching. He smiled to himself when Kamiko gave him the 'Ok' sign, wishing him luck apparently, then turned around to face his path again, "Fine, I assure you. Let's go now, we have a lot to talk about." He said as he slipped an arm around her back and continued to lead her.  
Ruki blushed, a bit shocked, "Uh, Ok..."  
Enrique looked over his shoulder to see if Kamiko was still watching and saw she was all over Johnny again, then frowned when he realized his plan to make her jealous hadn't worked "Hm. Guess it's over..." He muttered as he continued to lead her.  
Ruki looked up at Enrique, "What's over?"  
Enrique sighed, "My futile attempts."  
Ruki looked over her shoulder and saw he meant Kamiko, then looked back at him, "I'm sorry about Kamiko ... I just wish there was something I could do. All I can offer is ... If you ever need me, I'll be here.."  
Enrique glimpsed down at her, managing a smile, "Thanks. You're a good friend."  
Ruki returned a warm smile as well, glad to see it had helped even a little.  
  
Meanwhile Kamiko rushed toward the school building, Ruki struggling to catch up, "Kamiko! Wait!!"  
Kamiko sat on the bricks outlining a garden with her face in her hands.  
Ruki stopped in front of her, panting, "What's... wrong?" She inquired inbetween breaths.  
"I can't go out with Enrique anymore." Kamiko sobbed.  
Ruki rolled her eyes up, "Well yeah we all know that now... But why?"  
"I... don't know... The feeling... it's gone." Kamiko removed her hands and looked at Ruki.  
Ruki tilted her head oddly, "The what?"  
Kamiko stood up and wiped her face, "You know... the feeling when you like somebody.. when you love somebody..."  
"It's gone..." Ruki blinked.  
Kamiko nodded and sniffed.  
  
Ruki looked down, not sure what to say.  
"It's for somebody else now..." Kamiko confessed, her voice even again.  
Ruki looked up at her, "Somebody... else?"  
Kamiko nodded, "Yes. I can't help it..."  
Ruki stood up straight, "Then who?"  
Kamiko looked around uneasily, checking the scenery for any evesdroppers then got closer to Ruki's face, "Johnny."  
Ruki raised an eyebrow, "What about Johnny?"  
Kamiko repeated herself with a bit of a sigh, "I like... Johnny." She managed once again.  
Ruki blinked and paused a moment, "Uh... you... wanna run that by me again?"  
Kamiko sighed once more, "I like Johnny." She looked down as if ashamed.  
Ruki's eyes shifted around, unable to find the words to say.  
  
"I know it seems irrational... But it's .. true." Kamiko confirmed.  
  
She looked over her shoulder a saw Oliver trying to comfort Enrique as they walked toward the school building and Johnny tagging along behind them, his hands in his pockets as usual but he was quiet for a change. "Speak of the devil ..."  
Kamiko looked up and noticed them as well. The three boys exchanged their gazes with the girls in the distant, but didn't make an attempt to approach them and were on their way again soon. The bell then rang, calling all students to the school building and to their classroom.  
  
That day Kamiko shared the front row with Ruki, feeling awkward to sit in the back with the guys. She wrote notes attempting to explain the situation to Enrique, but trashed every one of them, finding them not good enough. Her attention to classwork was less than usual today and Ruki had no doubt noticed her friend was severaly troubled.  
At the end of the day, Ruki and Kamiko walked back to the boarding house together. Ruki gave her a few pats on the back, "Did you write that note?"  
"I must've written hundreds... but none of them explained well enough what went wrong." Kamiko put her hand to her head as if it hurt. "Why does this have to be so complicated?"  
"Why does she have to be so complicated?" Enrique sighed as he sat at the table with Oliver and a snack before him.  
Johnny looked from the TV over to Enrique, "Hey, you knew it was bound to happen. You never were good with keeping women anyway."  
Oliver looked sternly at Johnny, "You're not helping any Johnny!"  
"Hey, I'm just telling the truth." Johnny shrugged. "Maybe you should find another bimbo like you used to have back in Italy. What were their names? Bosetta and Rianco or something?"  
Enrique's face turned sour, "Rosetta and Bianca."  
"Ah, that's right." Johnny smirked, showing no sign of sympathy for his friend.  
"Enrique, what you need is someone who's sweet and caring, but someone loyal and truth worthy too. Not someone so wild, someone calm but conversational and active." Oliver said as he looked back at Enrique.  
"Tch, I'm not gonna find anyone like that." Enrique replied, somewhat bitterly as he played with the food on his plate.  
"Why not look outside the school?" Oliver suggested.  
"Or why not stop looking all together?" Johnny added.  
  
"Johnny, can't you be atleast a little supportive right now?" Oliver snapped.  
"Why should I? He got what he deserved." Johnny smirked, matter of factly.  
"What did he do to deserve this?" Oliver demanded.  
Johnny rolled his eyes, "Cheaters never prosper? Is that a-ringin' a bell?" He yawned after he had finished and a silence covered the room.  
Enrique blinked then suddenly stood up, slamming his hands on the table, "CHEATER?! I NEVER CHEATED ON ANYBODY!!!"  
"Ah, whatever. I saw you talking with that stupid blonde the other day." Johnny said calmly.  
"For YOUR information MISTER!! She wanted to talk to me about YOU." Enrique growled.  
"Hmm, about me, eh?" Johnny said without interest.  
Enrique crossed his arms and peered at him from the corner of his eyes, "Yeah.. she said something about... being interested in going with you to the dance next month."  
Johnny's eyes rolled over to Enrique, he was silent for a moment, then finally replied, "Oh really..."  
Enrique looked up at the ceiling, "Yeah but of course you wouldn't care about that. I'm cheating with her, remember?"  
Johnny scrambled to a sit on the bed, "I NEVER SAID THAT!!" He objected.  
"AH YEAH YOU DID!!" Enrique yelled back at him.  
"You guys, CHILL OUT!!" Oliver interrupted. "I hate to interrupt this argument but we still have to find out what happened to Kamiko and Ruki you know!"  
Johnny looked in another direction, "Who cares what happened to them? Ruki was getting on my nerves anyway."  
Enrique put his fist up, "I'd much sooner kick you out of our group before I kick her out you big whiney baby!"  
Johnny's face turned red with anger as he shot back, "WHINEY BABY!? YOU'RE THE ONE WHO WAS MOPING ALL DAY CAUSE YOU'RE GIRLFRIEND DUMPED YOU!!"  
  
"YEAH?! Well atleast unlike YOU I've atleast HAD a girlfriend!" Enrique snarled.  
"Yeah and they ALL DUMPED you!!"  
"You haven't had any TO dump you!" Johnny and Enrique goin at it.  
"Because I haven't even WANTED one!"  
"You're the worst liar I've ever met!!"  
"You're the biggest whiney I've ever met!"  
"That's funny cause I'm probably the only person you've ever met ANYWAY!!"  
"ARE YOU CALLING ME GAY?!"  
"YOU PROBABLY ARE!!"  
"YOU GUYS!!!" Oliver screamed at them.  
Enrique and Johnny didn't say another word, but glared at eachother growling as if ready to tackle on another to the ground and exchange flying fists.  
"We have to find Kamiko and Ruki! Whether or not she broke up with Enrique, she's still our friend!" Oliver sighed, exhausted from watching the two go like that, "Now, we're gonna walk up to their room and talk this out like civilized people."  
"Not that Enrique would know anything about being civilized." Johnny crossed his arms.  
"WHY YOU..." Suddenly an almost visible light bulb appeared over Enrique's head, "Hm. Is that so. Well then.. I have a challenge for you Mr. I'm So Civil." Enrique had his arms crossed now, knowing Johnny could never refuse a challenge.  
Johnny glanced at him skeptically, "A challenge eh?"  
"I'd like to see you get a girlfriend just to see whether it's true that you can if you want." Enrique smirked.  
Johnny glowered at him, but his frown soon became a smirk, "By next week. Whoever has a girlfriend first is the better man, eh?"  
Enrique nodded, "Fine!"  
Johnny grinned widely, "Tch, fine."  
Oliver smacked his forehead with his hand, knowing it was useless to try and talk sense into them.  
Kamiko closed the door as Ruki walked into their room, "It's nice to be back in here. I feel like its been forever since I last laid on my bed." Ruki let herself drop onto the mattress, leaving prints in the formely perfectly made bed.  
Kamiko wandered over to her own bed and sat down, facing Ruki, "Ruki ... you have to help me."  
Ruki eyed Kamiko from where she lay, "Help you? ...With what?"  
"Getting.... well... Johnny to like me." Kamiko chuckled, a bit embarrassed.  
Ruki blinked, "Well I--" She was interrupted by a knock on the door.  
Kamiko looked at the door. It was silent until there was another knock. "I wonder.. who could that be?" Kamiko looked at Ruki who shrugged, then got to her feet and walked to the door. She slowly opened it.  
"Hi!" Oliver smiled, Enrique and Johnny behind him.  
Kamiko quickly shut the door, her eyes wide with fear.  
Ruki sat up, "Who was that?"  
Kamiko looked at Ruki but didn't answer and ran to the other room.  
Ruki raised an eyebrow and forced herself off the bed and opened the door.  
"Uh, hi." Oliver blinked.  
A massive sweatdrop slid down Ruki's face as she became nervous for Kamiko's sake, "Oh uh... Hey, how are ya?"  
"We just came by to--"  
"Chat! We wanna chat!" Enrique finished as he pushed past Oliver and Ruki and into the room.  
"Ch-chat??" Ruki repeated almost with fright as Oliver strolled in, Johnny following behind.  
"Of course!" Enrique dropped on Ruki's bed. ::  
Ruki nearly panicked, "Uh.. uh well since you're here, how about I go get some drinks for you? Just stay right here!" Ruki rushed off.  
Enrique looked at Johnny, who sat unamused at the small table for two across from Oliver.  
Kamiko approached the hurrying Ruki, "Are they gone?"  
"No--"  
"YOU LET THEM IN?!"  
"No I didn't let them in, they just sort've... Enrique let himself in and the others just followed.." Ruki corrected.  
"Oh great! Crap... Johnny is here too! This is horrible! ....No.. wait!" Kamiko suddenly turned back to Ruki.  
Ruki study innocently clueless.  
"You... heheh... you..." Kamiko chuckled evilly.  
Ruki took a few steps back, frightened, "Uh...?"  
"YOU!"  
Ruki jumped, "Me??"  
"You can be a distraction for Enrique!"  
"Huh??"  
"If Enrique finds somebody else, everything will be better and I'll be able to get Johnny." Kamiko smirked to herself, "It's perfect."  
"Wha-what?? Me??"  
Kamiko glared at her, "You're the only one around."  
"But why??"  
Kamiko's glare turned colder, "Because you're small and insignificant and because I'll pummel you if you don't!"  
Ruki blinked, "...Why else?"  
"NOW! RUKI!!"  
"AHH! Ok Ok!" Ruki ran off the retrieve the drinks she had promised.  
Kamiko turned around and rubbed her hands together, "Better watch out, Johnny-boy, cause I'm coming to get you..."  
Ruki sighed as she fixed the drinks, "Tea for Oliver, Mountain Dew for Johnny and Dr. Pepper for Enrique... what a crew." She came back into the room with a tray and offered the first drink to Enrique.  
"Thank you, you're too kind." Enrique said as he took the glass off the tray.  
Ruki went over to Johnny and Oliver, offering the last two drinks.  
"Many thanks, Ruki." Oliver smiled as he took the tea cup.  
"I just made it this morning, I tried the recipe you gave me. I hope it tastes alright."  
Johnny grabbed his drink, "Probably tastes worse than store tea!"  
Ruki blinked, not sure how to react.  
"Johnny, you're never gonna win that way." Enrique reminded him.  
Ruki looked at Enrique, "What're you talking about?"  
Enrique sat up, setting his glass on the nightstand and motioned Ruki to come over and explained quietly, "I challenged Johnny to get a girl by next week, but he's never gonna make it. I just know it."  
"You left out one last detail, Enrique or have you forgotten you're in for one too?" Johnny sneered, obviously having heard.  
Enrique frowned, "Yeah yeah, I haven't forgotten."  
  
Ruki stood up straight again, "I see. Well give me a second, I'm gonna put this back in the kitchen." She walked off somewhat in a hurry, replacing the tray where it had been and going over to Kamiko, "Kamiko!!"  
Kamiko quickly twisted around, "What?"  
"He's looking!"  
"Huh? Who? For what?" Kamiko appeared confused.  
"Enrique challenged Johnny to get a girlfriend before next week!" Ruki explained.  
Kamiko's face brightened, "Is that so? ...And Johnny didn't return a challenge?"  
Ruki blinked, "Uhm.. well.... yeah, Enrique has the same challenge but--"  
"That's perfect! You're more eligible than anyone else! And if Johnny needs a girlfriend he'll settle for who's easiest to get!" Kamiko exclaimed.  
"Hey now I don't like--" Ruki watched Kamiko skip off to the other room, "..that...idea.." Ruki frowned.  
Kamiko came into the room and stopped suddenly, having grabbed everyone's attention from the room. Ruki walked up behind her, looking over her shoulder.  
"Well well, where've you been hiding?" Enrique asked, somewhat fliratiously.  
Kamiko looked at Ruki, "You help me out this one time and I'll be indebted to you for life."  
Ruki sighed, feeling obligated to help her friend, "Yeah Ok..."  
Kamiko turned to her friends and walked into the room, "Hey guys, what's up?"  
Oliver blinked, "Nothing, we just... came to see how you were doing. You seemed sort've upset earlier."  
"Ah naw, I'm fine. Just needed some time to myself to think, yannow?" Kamiko replied.  
  
Enrique studied Kamiko, seeing she was not the least bit upset anymore and suddenly missed getting her attention all the time. "So Kamiko, um.. if you don't mind me asking... What.. went wrong?"  
Kamiko turned around and saw Ruki still standing there and waved her away, then looked at Enrique with a sigh, "My friend... I'm really sorry but, you see.. Things seemed rough and then my friend... she.." Kamiko rolled her eyes, trying to make it seem like it was complicated, "Let me just lay it out for you: she likes you Ok?"  
Ruki was against the wall just outside of the doorframe and hit herself in the head.  
Enrique raised an eyebrow, "What?"  
Johnny's face turned bitter, seeing as he had the upper hand now in their little bet.  
"So we had to break up?" Enrique asked, sadly.  
"Like I said, things were rough between us..." Kamiko repeated, "And it's just better this way."  
Enrique's shoulders dropped, not fully understanding what exactly it was she was saying.  
"Anyway, you guys got anything planned? I was thinking maybe tomorrow after school we could go mini-golfing."  
"That sounds like fun!" Oliver smiled.  
"Yeah, so you guys in?" Kamiko eyed Johnny specifically, trying to throw hints of interest.  
"Pfft, mini-golfing?!" Johnny crossed his arms.  
"Yes, Johnny, mini-golfing." Kamiko smiled and spoke flirtatiously to him, batting her eyelashes.  
Johnny raised an eyebrow, catching a hint, then looked at Enrique who seemed to grow more angry once he had caught his eye, "Yeah. Mini-golfing sounds fun." Johnny looked back at Kamiko, pleased with his sudden progress.  
"Great!" Kamiko cheered as Ruki came in and stood next to her. She looked down at her friend, "We're going mini-golfing tomorrow after school, Ruki."  
Ruki blinked, "Oh.. woo..hoo..."  
Kamiko's face turned grave and she elbowed Ruki in the side.  
"OW!! Oh I mean YEAH!! Great! Finally!" Ruki rolled her eyes.  
Oliver stood, "So mini-golfing it is then. How great." He smiled, seeming very happy.  
"Yeah, it'll be just like old times." Kamiko pulled Ruki over and said just loud enough for the others to hear, "And you'll get to spend some quality time with the man of your dreams."  
Ruki blushed and looked at her, embarrassed, "Oh goody..."  
Enrique stood in a thinking position, pondering over his current choices, "Win Ruki over and at least not lose... or find somebody else more suited for me..."  
"Hey Romeo, it's time to go!" Johnny hollard from the doorway.  
Enrique looked up, "Yeah yeah I'm coming." He walked past Ruki and Kamiko and waved to them, "See you at dinner." With that he was out of site, having followed Johnny down the hall.  
Kamiko skipped to the door and shut it, "THANK YOU SO MUCH RUKI!! Johnny will be mine before next week." She felt a tingle of excitement go through her bones.  
"Was it Ok to lie to Enrique like that though?" Ruki frowned.  
Kamiko blinked a moment as if thinking it over, "Mmm.. yeah! Besides, you'll learn to like him I'm sure."  
"I do like him but--"  
Kamiko gasped, "You do?!"  
"Only as a friend!"  
  
Kamiko laughed, "You're bad at covering things up once they're figured out."  
"No, you don't get it--"  
"I'd have to be pretty gullible to go for that." Kamiko laughed as she walked into the kitchen area.  
Ruki hit her forehead again with the heel of her hand.  
That evening before dinner, Johnny approached Enrique with his usual cocky smile, "Seems I have my work cut out for me."  
Enrique glared at him, "Appears so..."  
"I'll work my charm this evening and have her by Thursday." Johnny replied, confidentally.  
Enrique's glare narrowed.  
"Looks like you've already losed, Enrique-poo." Johnny snickered and went out the door to go to the cafeteria.  
Oliver walked over to Enrique, "Are you coming?"  
Enrique stood up, "Yeah I'm coming. It's time to play fire with fire, and Johnny's about to get burnt." The flames of rage could be see flaring in Enrique's eyes as he stood there, then followed Johnny out the door.  
Oliver blinked, surprised at how serious this competition has become.  
Downstairs in the cafeteria, Kamiko and Ruki were already looking at the nights menu.  
"Coldslaw? Who eats that?" Kamiko shuddered.  
Ruki chuckled at Kamiko, "That's like saying who eats pizza."  
"Least pizza tastes good." Kamiko mumbled, "There's nothing good to eat on this stupid menu!"  
"Calm down Kamiko, there's plenty good to eat here, see here's--" Ruki suddenly stopped.  
Kamiko looked up to see what had grabbed her attention, "Oh oh, here come the guys!" She quickly straightened her posture.  
Ruki watched Kamiko reparing, thinking it seemed almost ridiculous.  
"Good evening, ladies."  
Ruki looked over and up at Enrique who had just greeted them.  
"I'm so glad to see you came so soon." Kamiko said, her eyes on Johnny.  
Ruki glanced over at Kamiko, and watched as Johnny sat down next to her, "Didn't wanna miss any time I could spend with you, ya know." Johnny winked.  
Ruki noticed Kamiko got very excited about this and even more flirtatious. She rubbed her forehead, "Find anything yet, Kamiko?"  
"Uh hmm? What?" Kamiko looked at Ruki, not having paid any attention.  
"Food. We're here to... eat." Ruki pretended to spoon something into her mouth.  
"Oh yeah. Right. Food." Kamiko picked her menu back up and skimmed it over a moment, then looked at Johnny again who seemed to be intently finding something that suited his taste.  
Ruki watched for a moment then looked at Enrique who was standing and watching as well, "Hey Enrique, you wanna sit down?" She slightly smiled.  
Enrique continued to watch, paying close attention as he took a seat between Ruki and Oliver.  
Ruki frowned and looked at Kamiko, who was flirting probably more than she realized with Johnny who seemed to actually enjoy it. Her gaze went back to Enrique, who seemed both angered by this and saddened at the same time. Ruki dropped her shoulders as well as her eyes, which landed back on the page of her menu. Which landed back on the page of her menu. Ignoring the outside noises of everyone else, she finally decided on what to eat then looked at Kamiko and Johnny, "So have we decided what we're gonna have?"  
Kamiko bounced a bit in her seat, "Me and Johnny are gonna have some of the chicken!"  
Ruki looked at Oliver and Enrique for an answer.  
"Ready to order when you are." Oliver nodded.  
Ruki looked at Enrique specifically, who was staring hard onto the menu but didn't seem to be really reading it. Ruki moved, trying to get into his view a little, "Enrique...?"  
Enrique suddenly looked up as if startled, "Hm? What?" He looked at Ruki.  
Ruki raised both eyebrows, "Are you ready to order ...?"  
"Oh yeah. Yeah I'm ready." Enrique nodded, surely.  
Johnny grinned and did the honors of ringing the bell in the center of the table. A waiter reported to their table immidiately and Johnny was the first to speak, "We're having the chicken. She and I." Johnny gestured at Kamiko.  
The waiter nodded and looked at Oliver.  
"I'd like your dinner omelette, please." Oliver said politely.  
The waiter nodded again, a sign that he had gotten what was said. He skipped Enrique, who stared at his menu, thinking he hadn't made up his mind yet and looked at Ruki.  
"I'd like the rice with the mash potatoes, please." Ruki smiled as best she could manage.  
The waiter bobbed his head again and looked at Enrique, who hadn't noticed.  
Ruki looked at Enrique, "Psst. Enrique. You're on."  
Enrique slowly looked at Ruki, then slowly turned to the waiter, "I'll have the dinner omelette to go."  
"To go? You're not staying with us?" Oliver inquired.  
"No I need to go up to my room." Enrique said as he lay the menu down and the waiter left to retrieve the orders.  
"Are you Ok? Should I come with you?" Oliver asked, worriedly.  
"No. No, no, I'm fine." Enrique assured him.  
"Should I come with you then?" Ruki asked, gaining Enrique's attention, well aware he needed company and couldn't turn down a girl's offer no matter who she was.  
Enrique looked uneasy and unwilling, "If you really want I guess." He finally said.  
Ruki smiled, pleased, "Great."  
Kamiko caught Ruki's attention and gave her a thumbs up with a sneaky smirk.  
Ruki glared at her and waved her cruel gesture away.  
When the waiter returned he gave Enrique his food to go, "Thank you, sir."  
"Oh please make mine to go too." Ruki said before the waiter left.  
"Very well, miss." Was his reply before he bowed and went on his way once more.  
Ruki sat patiently, watching the others while Enrique fidgetted as he stood behind his seat.  
"Oh Johnny, you're just the cutest thing!" Kamiko giggled, clinging to his arm.  
Johnny eyed Enrique, knowing this bugged him, "I know."  
Enrique narrowed his view but only turned away. The waiter soon arrived and handed Ruki her food.  
"Thank you very much." Ruki said as she took it and stood up, letting her seat slide out behind her.  
"You two love birds have fun now, ya hear?" Kamiko winked at Ruki.  
Ruki's friendly smile soon turned into a deadly stare, which only made Kamiko snicker with delight.  
"Alright, let's go Ruki." Enrique said and began to leave.  
Ruki pushed her seat in and ran to catch up with him, "Are you sure you're Ok?"  
Enrique stopped, suddenly having an idea. He turned around to face Ruki and looked past her to see if Kamiko was still watching. He smiled to himself when Kamiko gave him the 'Ok' sign, wishing him luck apparently, then turned around to face his path again, "Fine, I assure you. Let's go now, we have a lot to talk about." He said as he slipped an arm around her back and continued to lead her.  
Ruki blushed, a bit shocked, "Uh, Ok..."  
Enrique looked over his shoulder to see if Kamiko was still watching and saw she was all over Johnny again, then frowned when he realized his plan to make her jealous hadn't worked "Hm. Guess it's over..." He muttered as he continued to lead her.  
Ruki looked up at Enrique, "What's over?"  
Enrique sighed, "My futile attempts."  
Ruki looked over her shoulder and saw he meant Kamiko, then looked back at him, "I'm sorry about Kamiko ... I just wish there was something I could do. All I can offer is ... If you ever need me, I'll be here.."  
Enrique glimpsed down at her, managing a smile, "Thanks. You're a good friend."  
Ruki returned a warm smile as well, glad to see it had helped even a little. 


	4. Author's Note!

Hacker: X.x nyaa...im back...with an author's note! Since I'm not all into writing this story. [coughtolazycough] It's kinda gotten me bored. So I'm taking it down by...ohh [looks at calendar] **Sunday August 22, 2004**. It's taking up space. Later people.


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